Professor

Palina Salanevich

AD
3.3
Overall Ratings
Based on 11 Users
Easiness 3.1 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.3 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.5 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.2 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (11)

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April 10, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B

Allow me to be the voice of dissent for this professor:

While she isn't herself a bad human being, and I actually rather liked the few interactions I had with her personally, this class was by far the least material I have understood coming out of any math class. I got a B, which was fine by my standards, it's actually exactly what I wanted to get, but I was about 90% self-taught. I went to all but one of her lectures during the first six weeks, and ultimately ended up getting a 51% on the first midterm. After discontinuing my attendance at lectures, I scored a 79% on the second midterm using basically just the textbook and Khan Academy (and while this doesn't sound high, the mean scores on our tests were VERY low).
The previous reviews were correct; you are allowed a cheatsheet and calculator on the exams, but do not expect this to single-handedly give you an edge. Most of the material is based on mechanical reproductive skill, not memorization. To this end, I would not recommend taking this class with professor Salanevich. It isn't hard, but you absolutely will not understand the material in her lectures unless you teach yourself the material before the lectures and use them as a review (which are very unclear, disappointing reviews).

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April 16, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: C+

Nice person, terrible professor. Lectures are unclear and all the examples she gave us were already in the book. Anyone who reviewed her previously and gave her good reviews probably had previous Calc BC experience; as someone who never took AP Calculus in high school this class was almost entirely self-teaching. My TA Joe however was very helpful; I basically spent all my review time in his office hours in which he taught us how to do important questions. I did okay on both the midterms and completely bombed the final. Overall I can recommend this professor if you already know the material fairly well but if you are looking for someone to teach it to you for the first time and teach it well then please avoid at all costs.

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March 31, 2019
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A-

This class ended up being fairly easy because she allowed us to use "cheatsheets" on both midterms and the final. He lectures were usually clear and she was very open to answering questions during lecture. Definitely recommend.

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March 29, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B

Salanevich has both a bad Russian accent and bad handwriting. It takes time to get used to her accent, but shouldn't be too bad. Good idea to skim through the lesson before lecture just so it's easier to follow her lecture. And although she is sometimes off schedule (actually almost always behind) of the syllabus, she has organization. She'll post on CCLE what the lesson from textbook section and topic was discussed during lecture, along with the homework problems for that section. Homework isn't collected or graded, but highly recommend doing them as there are weekly quizzes that are similar to the last week's material. There are 2 midterms and a final. She is nice in that she will tell you the exact topics that will be covered and give you a list of pertinent examples. I ended up with a B in the class because I did poorly on the second midterm and the last final. Her grading is fair, and the tests match the difficult that you'd expect. However, I found it was still a bit hard since the content in itself is difficult. That's just because of the nature of Series and convergence (that's why I ranked 2 on easiness). The class overall was pretty alright and definitely doable. Salanevich isn't a mean professor at all, you just need to put in the time and effort to understand the material.

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May 2, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A+

I will admit that I went into the Winter quarter with this professor a bit nervous, especially due to the fact that she had no ratings on BruinWalk before then. At first, professor Salanevich can be a bit difficult to understand and her notation may not be all too familiar to the average student. That being said, that was only true for the first three weeks of class. After the first midterm everything was much more clear and I became familiar with her notation and strong accent. The information she says will be on the midterm is much more than what will actually be tested, but she allows for a ridiculous amount of cheat sheet space (back and front of one page). All you really need to do is write down the most important equations on your cheat sheet and you should be set. That being said, she is also generous enough to curve the final exam and provided one extra credit opportunity. Homework is not collected or graded and the lowest two quizzes are dropped, allowing you to focus completely on the exams. Overall I believe Salanevich may be hard to understand but the material is not very difficult and she provides a lot of aid for the students in the form of a curved final, no homework, cheat sheets, etc. Anyone who likes math or is decent at it can easily get a B+ or higher in the course. Keep in mind I have never dealt with infinite series or sequences before the course, and managed to get an A+.

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June 25, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A-

I thought this class was manageable for the most part. The professor made it so you learn the harder material in the first half of the class. I didn't mind her accent, but sometimes she was a little quiet, so it is better to sit in the front half of the class.
This class definitely requires doing all the homework and maybe even additional practice problems. I went to literally all my TAs office hours to make sure I understood every assigned question and all the concepts. If you really stay on top of the material, I think you can be successful in this class.
I had no experience with Calc BC and so I had to put in a little extra work. From what I've heard, it seems like Salanevich was one of the better 31B professors Winter 2019.
She also allows a full page cheat sheet for both midterms and TWO pages for the final (front and back). Don't rely on your cheat sheets but it is definitely nice that there isn't the extra stress of memorizing all the equations.
I don't think calc gets much easier than it was in this class.

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March 30, 2019
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A+

Overall, I enjoyed taking this class: while her accent and handwriting can occasionally be hard to decipher, Salanevich makes up for this by explaining concepts relatively simply and going over tough spots in the syllabus multiple times to ensure that students understand the material. I think her best quality as a professor is how well she prepares the class for assessments (Midterms & Finals); she's very clear about what we need to know and the kinds of problems that we'll encounter ahead of time, and goes over these types of problems in class and through the homework/quizzes. I'm not great at math, but by just doing the homework and quizzes, I felt rather prepared for all the tests, and did relatively well on them! As long as you're alright going over some pages in the textbook if some ideas didn't make sense or you didn't understand what she said the first time, I'd definitely recommend taking Salaenvich!

Helpful?

0 4 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B
April 10, 2019

Allow me to be the voice of dissent for this professor:

While she isn't herself a bad human being, and I actually rather liked the few interactions I had with her personally, this class was by far the least material I have understood coming out of any math class. I got a B, which was fine by my standards, it's actually exactly what I wanted to get, but I was about 90% self-taught. I went to all but one of her lectures during the first six weeks, and ultimately ended up getting a 51% on the first midterm. After discontinuing my attendance at lectures, I scored a 79% on the second midterm using basically just the textbook and Khan Academy (and while this doesn't sound high, the mean scores on our tests were VERY low).
The previous reviews were correct; you are allowed a cheatsheet and calculator on the exams, but do not expect this to single-handedly give you an edge. Most of the material is based on mechanical reproductive skill, not memorization. To this end, I would not recommend taking this class with professor Salanevich. It isn't hard, but you absolutely will not understand the material in her lectures unless you teach yourself the material before the lectures and use them as a review (which are very unclear, disappointing reviews).

Helpful?

4 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: C+
April 16, 2019

Nice person, terrible professor. Lectures are unclear and all the examples she gave us were already in the book. Anyone who reviewed her previously and gave her good reviews probably had previous Calc BC experience; as someone who never took AP Calculus in high school this class was almost entirely self-teaching. My TA Joe however was very helpful; I basically spent all my review time in his office hours in which he taught us how to do important questions. I did okay on both the midterms and completely bombed the final. Overall I can recommend this professor if you already know the material fairly well but if you are looking for someone to teach it to you for the first time and teach it well then please avoid at all costs.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: A-
March 31, 2019

This class ended up being fairly easy because she allowed us to use "cheatsheets" on both midterms and the final. He lectures were usually clear and she was very open to answering questions during lecture. Definitely recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: B
March 29, 2019

Salanevich has both a bad Russian accent and bad handwriting. It takes time to get used to her accent, but shouldn't be too bad. Good idea to skim through the lesson before lecture just so it's easier to follow her lecture. And although she is sometimes off schedule (actually almost always behind) of the syllabus, she has organization. She'll post on CCLE what the lesson from textbook section and topic was discussed during lecture, along with the homework problems for that section. Homework isn't collected or graded, but highly recommend doing them as there are weekly quizzes that are similar to the last week's material. There are 2 midterms and a final. She is nice in that she will tell you the exact topics that will be covered and give you a list of pertinent examples. I ended up with a B in the class because I did poorly on the second midterm and the last final. Her grading is fair, and the tests match the difficult that you'd expect. However, I found it was still a bit hard since the content in itself is difficult. That's just because of the nature of Series and convergence (that's why I ranked 2 on easiness). The class overall was pretty alright and definitely doable. Salanevich isn't a mean professor at all, you just need to put in the time and effort to understand the material.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A+
May 2, 2019

I will admit that I went into the Winter quarter with this professor a bit nervous, especially due to the fact that she had no ratings on BruinWalk before then. At first, professor Salanevich can be a bit difficult to understand and her notation may not be all too familiar to the average student. That being said, that was only true for the first three weeks of class. After the first midterm everything was much more clear and I became familiar with her notation and strong accent. The information she says will be on the midterm is much more than what will actually be tested, but she allows for a ridiculous amount of cheat sheet space (back and front of one page). All you really need to do is write down the most important equations on your cheat sheet and you should be set. That being said, she is also generous enough to curve the final exam and provided one extra credit opportunity. Homework is not collected or graded and the lowest two quizzes are dropped, allowing you to focus completely on the exams. Overall I believe Salanevich may be hard to understand but the material is not very difficult and she provides a lot of aid for the students in the form of a curved final, no homework, cheat sheets, etc. Anyone who likes math or is decent at it can easily get a B+ or higher in the course. Keep in mind I have never dealt with infinite series or sequences before the course, and managed to get an A+.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A-
June 25, 2019

I thought this class was manageable for the most part. The professor made it so you learn the harder material in the first half of the class. I didn't mind her accent, but sometimes she was a little quiet, so it is better to sit in the front half of the class.
This class definitely requires doing all the homework and maybe even additional practice problems. I went to literally all my TAs office hours to make sure I understood every assigned question and all the concepts. If you really stay on top of the material, I think you can be successful in this class.
I had no experience with Calc BC and so I had to put in a little extra work. From what I've heard, it seems like Salanevich was one of the better 31B professors Winter 2019.
She also allows a full page cheat sheet for both midterms and TWO pages for the final (front and back). Don't rely on your cheat sheets but it is definitely nice that there isn't the extra stress of memorizing all the equations.
I don't think calc gets much easier than it was in this class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
Quarter: Winter 2019
Grade: A+
March 30, 2019

Overall, I enjoyed taking this class: while her accent and handwriting can occasionally be hard to decipher, Salanevich makes up for this by explaining concepts relatively simply and going over tough spots in the syllabus multiple times to ensure that students understand the material. I think her best quality as a professor is how well she prepares the class for assessments (Midterms & Finals); she's very clear about what we need to know and the kinds of problems that we'll encounter ahead of time, and goes over these types of problems in class and through the homework/quizzes. I'm not great at math, but by just doing the homework and quizzes, I felt rather prepared for all the tests, and did relatively well on them! As long as you're alright going over some pages in the textbook if some ideas didn't make sense or you didn't understand what she said the first time, I'd definitely recommend taking Salaenvich!

Helpful?

0 4 Please log in to provide feedback.
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