[MATH 0200]
Linear Algebra

Rate This Class

Professor: Dorman, D.

Value of Course / Overall Score

Not Much (57.1%
Average (42.9%)
Valuable (0%)

Material

Friendly (57.1%)
Average (42.9%)
Competitive (0%)

Class Atmosphere

Boring (28.6%)
Average (71.4%)
Fascinating (0%)

Prep Time Needed

1-2hr (0%)
3-5hr (71.4%)
6-8hr (28.6%)
9-11hr (0%)
12+ hr (0%)

Grade Weighting

Harder (57.1%)
Average (0%)
Easier (42.9%)

Adequate Assistance

Yes (100%)
No (0%)

Would Recommend Class

Yes (37.5%)
No (62.5%)

Evaluation Comments for Dorman, D.

  1. The material is definitely hard to understand and Dorman tries, but it doesn't work for me.
  2. David Dorman is a wonderful man. However he is not a wonderful teacher. The homework is entirely from the book, and is easy to understand by skimming the reading, looking at theorems/definitions...etc. Lectures somewhat reflected the book, yet there were occasions where Prof. Dorman admitted to disagreeing with the book and used different notation and wording than the book. His lectures and board notes lack structure and organization, and generally teach a similar concept to what the book teaches, but in a longer and harder to follow way. Also, his tests are only marginally related to the homework problems. We had no experience with the type of questions asked on tests, so one could get used to book problems and get them all correct, yet do poorly on one of the three tests each worth around 30% of the grade, and thus door poorly in the class (since homework only counted for 5% of the class grade). I ended up teaching myself 80+% of the information in this class after the first few weeks from the book, and either working on homework or reading the book during lectures while occasionally paying attention.
  3. I found linear algebra to be one of the simpler math courses I have taken, but its applications are limited. I really liked Dorman for first two thirds of the semester, but he stopped teaching the class well at all for the last stretch. Also be warned that your grade is composed of homework and quizzes combined for 10%, while each of the three tests are worth 30%, so make sure you're a decent test-taker. I didn't find the first two tests difficult, though. He is one of the few professors I've had/heard about that doesn't make an effort to learn names at all. That being said, my final grade was lower than I deserved- it was right on the border of two grades and he chose the lower. I did extremely well the entire semester and not so great on the final, and I think if he had taken the time to know me better this would not have been the case.
  4. No Comment
  5. dorman didn't do a great job of explaining things. I found myself reading the textbook a lot. Tests were hard
  6. I took this class just because I wanted to see if I'd like to continue math in college. After taking it, I will NEVER take another class with Dorman, and probably not take any more classes in the math department. Dorman is very odd and self-absorbed. This class is super abstract, and even though the homework isn't bad, his tests are awful. He sought out the most contrived, complex problems to present on tests. I did fine in this class, but suffered the whole way. It was not pleasant.
  7. Dorman is a nut. I mean that in a good way. He's quirky and has an awesome sense of humor. That said, I didn't enjoy this class at all. Maybe it was the subject material, but Dorman has a way of teaching where he jumps right into the middle of the concept with no introduction and then expects you to follow along. Oftentimes people would ask him seemingly simple questions and he would have to stop the entire class and think for 5-10 minutes. Homework was a breeze but was only 4% of your grade. Tests weren't too bad if you did the homework. The final was ostensibly cumulative but leaned heavily towards the later part of the class. However, Dorman was always available for help and was pretty helpful in person. If you really want to learn Linear Algebra and are OK with having to go to office hours and forcing the prof to teach you, then go for it. Otherwise, if you have just a casual interest in math or need that DED requirement, take it with someone else.
  8. Concepts can be confusing and hard to grasp. His lectures are pretty confusing and his handwriting is hard to read. He is a funny guy though and class wasn't too bad.

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