2.2
Quality3.8
Difficulty28%
Would Retake89
Reviews28%
Would Retake
89
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
89 total ratings5
10
4
6
3
18
2
12
1
43
What Students Say
“Overcomplicates simple concepts and lectures are constantly riddled with easily avoidable mistakes”
MATH154 - 1.0 rating“Not a very good Professor”
MATH154 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+1.47 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH348
5.0
(1)Math155
2.5
(8)MATH154
2.2
(76)MATH151
1.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
MATH151
5.0
Math155
4.0
MATH154
3.7
MATH348
2.0
Reviews (87)
She is very patient and cares about answering everyone's questions and re-explaining as needed. However, she makes mistakes very often while doing examples which made things more confusing and sometimes uses unnecessarily complicated methods which is also confusing. First midterm had a mistake and it wasn't clearly communicated to us.
By far the worst prof I've ever had, and I've been in university for 5 years. She makes so many mistakes, doesn't explain key concepts very fully (more time to ramble about biology), and chooses the most difficult equations to teach a concept when its difficult to follow along with. Also, the tests are seriously nothing like what you do in class.
I have always struggled with math, but MacPherson made calculus so understandable. She's so approachable, I went to a few office hours and every session was productive and fulfilling. She's 100% the best prof I've had at SFU so far
Nice person but terrible prof. Makes tons of mistakes during her lectures which makes it extremely confusing to follow along. Also, constantly rambles during lectures so notes arent done most of the time. Would recommend to friend only if the course was online.
Shes clearly very new to teaching and makes VERY FREQUENT mistakes. Also she will rewrite an equation over and over just to show her work for (1+4) 5 for example, and the notes are so cluttered to the point of being useless. Insists on doing every bit of notation the long way for no reason. The natural log of instead of saying ln. She nice tho
Dr MacPherson is amazing and goes above and beyond for her students learning. She answers every question willingly and wants her students to participate and ask for help when needed. I genuinely believe that she has been the best math professor who actually wants her students to succeed. Go to office hours, do the homework and try your best.
Dr. Macpherson is a nice person. She makes mistakes during her lectures so make sure to double check q's and not rely on her lectures. Her lectures are a bit all over the place .She is helpful during office hours. BEAWARE OF HER TESTS the questions are nothing from the hw or notes. She brings questions out of nowhere and expects u to pass.
Was a kind prof and very nice. Very fair grading scheme. Often made mistakes during lectures and sometimes even seem confused. Tests were very hard and were given an unreasonable amount of questions on midterms for the amount of time given. Tests were 100x harder than content learned in class
Dr. MacPherson was really nice and approachable but often made small mistakes in lectures. Homework was not hard if you understood the material. Midterms and final were fair and doable in the time given. If you pay attention and put in the effort, you will do well.
She's nice and truly loves bio. The lectures were a bit all over the place but I think the midterms were fair since they were open note and open book. Plus the study guide was a good representation of the midterms and finals. The only problem with the study guide is she only goes over the questions you ask and there's no answer key.
She is extremely caring and genuinely wants her students to succeed. However, she continuously made mistakes during lectures, overcomplicated concepts, and was overall disorganized. The practice work done and taught in the notes did not reflect the difficulty of the problems on midterms. She was fairly lenient in marking though.
Professor Macpherson is genuine as she wants her students to succeed! But there are constantly errors in her lectures and lecture slides, and in study guide as well as the online questions. Each topic is over complicated in her explanations I was basically learning each lesson on my own. Midterms and exams are similar to the study guide but harder!
Lots of homework and test heavy. Lectures are impossible to understand.
this prof overcomplicates simple problems and makes way too many mistakes during lectures so you don't know if you are doing the right thing from what you learned in lectures
Overcomplicates simple concepts and lectures are constantly riddled with easily avoidable mistakes. Come out of lecture understanding less. Study guide is very similar to midterms but there's no answer key. Test heavy and homework heavy but typically the work isn't difficult, she just overcomplicates it all.
Not a very good Professor. Horrible at teaching. She will make at least one mistake during every lecture and often will not annunciate properly, so it's tough to understand what she's saying. She assigns way too much homework. She won't even explain the homework in class and often it is way more difficult than the stuff she's teaching.
why is she making us do coding in math? she doesn't even go over it during lectures.
-hard to understand -does not explain things (occasionally removes things from her lectures because "she doesn't know why") -mistakes in homwrk assignments and lectures You basically have to teach yourself everything. took calc 12 and the material is similar, but she overcomplicates everything which leaves all the students confused and frustrated.
She is so awful at teaching, nothing she says makes sense. She makes at least one mistake in. Every. Single. Lecture. You have to teach yourself how to do the coding, and she overcomplicates the simplest concepts. Get out while you can. Save yourself
She forces you to waste tons of money on a textbook she literally never uses just to access the homework. Her lectures are an inchoherent mess, she always overcomplicates simple concepts and makes constant mistakes in homework questions and in lecture slides. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Professor MacPherson is not a very good lecturer, however, she is very kind and caring. Although she makes a lot mistakes, this does not give students an excuse to be disrespectful or call her names.
She may not explain in detail her work when doing examples in lecture however, minilectures are very useful and it's necessary to understand material before coming into the lecture. She's super nice and if there's any questions, she'll re-explain the process. Easier than MATH 150 and 151.
she doesnt know how to teach and just assumes that you know whats going on after going over it quickly. she jumps steps and doesnt explain where she got a certain number. Bro is delusional
This Professor is difficult to follow in lectures as she jumps to numerous steps without explanation and expects her students to just follow. She messes up constantly and in every lecture and makes it confusing for the students. She struggles to understand students' questions and just answers by saying i dont know and continues on with her lecture.
There are often mistakes made in her lectures, and she likes to overcomplicate concepts that can be broken down into simpler steps. When she makes mistakes in her lectures, students often point them out but she pretends like its nothing and proceeds with the lesson, which can further confuse students even more.
I LOVE HER! She explains things amazingly and makes math an easy subject to learn. 10/10 recommend taking this course! The second midterm is the easiest of the bunch for Math 154.
bought a $100 textbook we never use and the lectures are confusing
Makes mistakes the whole lecture and over complicates simple concepts. Not worth showing up to class as you can teach yourself better than she can. Maybe she needs to simmer down and teach better.
Stop teaching
GPA KILLER
You know it's bad when she gets offended and says it's inappropriate to ask for the midterm to be extended. The "rut" of her incompetence is clear when you discover that she decided to get her PhD in zoology.
Difficult class, lots of homework and a lot of exams. She makes a lot of mistakes during lectures and over complicates things
Avoid her if possible.
Absolutely and utterly horrible, she doesn't know how to each. At times I feel like she may rage and I hate her I clickers. She needs to focus on learning the material she is teaching as she doesn't know how to do it herself.
I want my $100 I spent on the textbook we never used back
Constantly makes mistakes during lectures and makes up numbers
She cannot explain math for the life of her, always makes mistakes in the notes, gets mad at students during lectures for asking simple questions, makes extremely long tests that aren't even remotely close to the practice, has so much mandatory homework, and makes you essentially teach yourself all of the course material.
this lady really made us pay $100 for a useless textbook just to do homework...
NEVER TAKE A CLASS WITH THIS PROF. EVER. LITERALLY TAKE ANYTHING ELSE. SHE IS HATED BY THE ENTIRE CLASS, AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!
Completely and utterly incompetent at LITERALLY EVERYTHING SHE DOES. The sheer incompetence of this lady is ASTOUNDING. She gets pissed at LITERALLY ANYTHING, even when students ask questions about her horrible and confusing examples in lecture. Also can't pronounciate basic words and makes mistakes in HW, lecture and doesn't care. RUNRUNRUNRUNRUN
every day that i have to attend this class i wish that i had never been born.
She should be able to pass the midterms herself before she decides to give it to the students.
Would steer clear, she cannot teach to save her life, she has a horrid temper as well as cannot do what she calls "freehand algebra." (THIS IS JUST REGULAR ALGEBRA SHE JUST CANT DO MATH). She also cannot answer questions from students, often ignores students questions. She just simply is not cut out for this job.
I spoke to her about not doing well in class, and her only solution was for me to repeat the course in a future semester since some students would have to do the same anyways. She also clarified that she doesn't scale her classes despite students not doing well. Avoid at all costs.
Dr. MacPherson is a brilliant person and teaches very enthusiastically. Her grading scheme is very fair, but she does make mistakes in lectures, however: if you go to her office hours, and ask her to clarify she'll make sure you understand. She is also super approachable and kind. These reviews are to mean, she's a good prof.
Overall not a bad prof, lots of easy marks from iclicker online and written assignments. She seemed to fall apart after the first midterm but after all the criticism from the second and third it became good again. I would take this prof again.
She gets too much hate on rate my prof, she's not that bad! It is unfair that you need to buy a textbook (that you'll never use) just so that you can access the assignments. The second midterm was extremely unfair, but she listened to everyone's feedback and changed for the third midterm.
She's honestly not as bad as others claim. Exams are pretty fair, and lectures are straight forward. She does make some calculation errors but it really isn't the end of the world. I do think the mark you get reflects the work you put in. Overall this is a calculus course so it is not "easy" and will require you to put in the work and study.
Professor MacPherson is not as bad as other people say Her lectures are straight forward, she goes fast but usually has time for questions. She makes mistakes but usually catches them or gets corrected. The exams are pretty straight forward. Your grade reflects the work you put in; this class is mostly high school calculus review.
She was nice in the ACW with TAs, cheat sheets for all exams. People cyberbullied her in group chats... ofc, the type who never put in effort when struggling and just complained :/ Textbook only to access assignments? I 'studied' by doing the weekly online and written assignments. Pro tip: visit the ACW the day before and do them with others :)
W professor when she isn't yelling at everyone. She went through some character development and stopped yelling at everyone near the second half of the course. The only part of the course that is useless is coding assignments but it's a major part of your grade. The ACW TAs carried my grade so become good friends with them.
She is a decent prof and tries her best to teach, even though she may not be the best lecturer. Occasionally, she will make errors as we all do. She allows cheat sheets for her exams. The homework load is manageable; however, do expect that a small portion of the homework WILL NOT be covered in the lecture (you might have to learn it on your own).
In-class lectures tend to be a mess and she doesn't explain/show her steps clearly enough. Errors in everything, lecture notes, study guides, and exams. Exams are incredibly easy. Sucked at calculus in high school, but breezed through this course. The problems are all basic applications of simple calculus rules. Other SFU calc course are 5x harder.
One of the better profs I've had. She made a couple of calculation errors sometimes but it's really not a big deal - overall her lectures were great. Exams were fair and pre-recorded lectures made the course even easier to follow. ACW TA's were amazing for help with assignments/understanding concepts where you get lost.
the material itself is pretty light but half the time she has no idea what she's doing and will mess up in every lecture. there's a lot of homework that's way harder than what we learn in class and sometimes you don't learn how to do it until the day it's due. Study guides r awful and there's no answer key.
Doctor Macpherson was overall a pretty good prof, keeping in mind that she's fairly new at teaching. She let the students have 2 cheat sheets for midterms and 4 front and back for the final exam! Mistakes were throughout the course. Additionally the midterms and final are fair. I can see her improving significantly as she gains more experience!
Math 154 was very frustrating. Between multiple errors embedded in lecture and study content, to study guides having no solutions to understand if your answer is right. That being said, Dr. MacPherson was the most helpful during office hours. Don't rate your prof based on their personality. She's nice, but there are improvements to be made.
I got an A+ in this course, no thanks to Dr. Macpherson. She makes countless, careless mistakes every lecture that interfere with comprehension. Unhelpful and says she doesn't have time to help when you need something beyond what TAs can do for you. Two assignments per week even on exam weeks, three midterms and a final. Wouldn't recommend
While she's kind+passonate abt math, Prof's mistakes made in both prelecture vids+during lectures made some topics hard to grasp. Didnt go to office hours but khan academy+doing the homework helped lots. Txtbk needed for online hw access, cheat sheets allowed for exams (which are fair+mainly word problems), inclass polls + weekly hw
She wasn't that bad. Lectures were unclear, however her pre lecture videos were actually pretty helpful. All the tests were somewhat fair except for midterm 2.
Overall Dr. MP is a great person + she cares for her students. But her lectures, exams, study guides are all riddled with uncorrected errors. This makes reviewing much harder than it needs to be. Overall her midterms are fair, and marking is fair. But be prepared to do some extra learning on your own if her lectures don't help. UNDERSTAND JUPYTER!
She'll call you out in front of the class if you're being disrespectful and occasionally threaten to call on random people. Attendance is mandatory (iClicker) and you'll need to buy the whole textbook just for assignments. The exams are reasonable and reflect the lectures but the 2 weekly assignments are quite difficult and time-consuming.
Worst professor I've had in the last 2 years. Get ready to teach yourself because she doesn't know what she's doing. Constantly makes careless mistakes & assigns complicated homework assignments. Exams are unnecessarily long & challenging, making them impossible to complete. Study guides don't have answer keys either. Save your time and tuition.
I spoke to Dr. MacPherson multiple times throughout the semester about struggling in this class. She never did anything to encourage or help me. Instead, she suggested I drop out to "save her time with marking".
Never learned anything from this class. No answer keys given for study guides because she believes that you don't know what you're doing if you need one. Funny coming from her as she makes constant mistakes during her lectures.
Not sure why people suddenly have positive things to say about Dr. MacPherson when throughout the semester everyone was complaining about her. Is it because of the huge scale to improve grades and make the class average a B or sudden change in heart? A true mystery if you ask me.
Only thing I got from Math 154 was a diagnosis for severe anxiety - no joke. Way too much time and dedication needed for this course. Part 1 of lesson delivered on YouTube, part 2 during scheduled time, 2 online assignments weekly, ACWs for revision and questions, 2hrs of practice dail to study, and no answer key given for any exam study guides.
A very intelligent young woman and truly has a passion for math and biology. She's a new prof, she made mistakes here and there and her notes were a bit messy sometimes. But, she knows what she's talking about and has the utmost credentials to teach this course. She was very fair and her online mini-lecs were so helpful! She will improve over time.
Dr. MacPherson is a great person and tries her hardest to accommodate issues that students may have. I found the material to be fairly simple and straightforward although Math and Calc is not an easy subject to learn quickly. To excel in the subject, be prepared to do practice questions, even though it wasn't assigned.
Somehow I was questioning the things I already learned in high school calculus because of this prof, and I GUARANTEE I would've gotten a lower mark if it weren't for high school. Also, every single lecture she made at least one mistake and that's not an understatement. Avoid this prof if you struggle at math but have to take a math course
Dr. MacPherson is not a very adapt lecturer. Her explanation of concepts is unnecessarily confusing and too fast paced. Her study guides are very rarely helpful and there's far too much hw. However, if you put in the work to teach yourself she does give you the foundation to start from. She seems nice but just needs to work on her teaching skills.
If you do not watch the prelecture videos, you will have no idea what is going on in class. Watch them. They're not that bad. Frequent assignments, do them, they make your 3 midterms a lot easier.
I got an A in that class but no thanks to the prof. she explained simple topics in a confusing manner and I was only able to get a good grade due to taking AP Calc in high school and teaching myself outside of class.
I think everyone was too harsh on MacPherson. While her lectures are confusing, her mini-lectures were actually very helpful. I would go to lectures just for the iclicker and do other work during that time. WATCH THE MINI LECTURES. I also found the exams to be very simple and straightforward with no trick questions. Plus she allows cheat sheets
I think Dr. Macpherson got so much hate for no reason. She was a caring professor and just wanted her students to succeed! The lectures may have been confusing at times but everyone makes mistakes. I highly would recommend taking math 154 with Dr.macpherson!
She was just confused lol.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS! She threatened to fail me at the beginning of the semester and did so despite my quizzes coming back with passing grades. Had to change my major halfway through my degree because of the grade given.
she is a really good prof and she is super sweet. most of these negative reviews are coming from whiny first year students that are still getting the hang of university. she was caring and helped if you needed some help. she does make some mistakes but it happens if you are a new prof and if you put in the effort you will do well, so stop slacking.
Ailene was one of the best professors I had at SFU. Her passion for math shines through in her clear lecture notes and dedication to student success. She ensures we understand concepts and encourages participation. The hate comes from students who don't know how to study.
It's always a race, impossible to keep up with the notes, much less learn in lectures. Quizzes and exams are ridiculously packed for the time aloted. The first midterms when so bad she didn't release the average.
Lectures not helpful. Fast paced. Reached out for help, was not helpful. Get ready to teach yourself via YouTube
Math 154 and math 155 are two of the worst classes I've ever taken it's like they want you to fail. Prof.Macpherson tried her best and she was nice and all but still doesnt rlly know how to teach. you have to teach yourself EVERYTHING. first midterm is as easy as it gets. Lots of hw. Pre lecture videos were useless. COME TO LECTURE dont fall behind
Dr. Macpherson is a lovely person, but the lectures were horrible. The lecture videos were confusing and difficult to follow. Midterms and finals did not reflect what was taught at all. I'd recommend using YouTube to learn everything. I only passed bc the class was curved.
She was nice, but she would sometimes skip over important steps when explaining a problem, which was confusing. She has summaries for each topic in the solutions to her problem sets which were helpful. The weekly online assignmemts arent too bad as long as you start working on them early. The weekly quizzes arent given enough time to complete.
The course isn't too bad however it's very fast. There's a lot of work including weekly in class quizzes and it's hard to stay on top of it. Lectures were pointless you're gonna have to teach yourself everything. The midterms were easy but the final was hard and it's worth 50% of your grade.
course wasn't too difficult, practice w/ IQ assignments as they are identical to exam questions. I liked this class a lot more than calc1 (grade:C) and found it a lot simpler. she does skip over important slides in class, but she posts completed slides after. not the worst, not the best. PREPARE FOR FINAL!!!
The professor was nice, she tried her best to engage the class & always stopped to ask for questions. Sometimes, lectures were confusing since she skipped steps. Quizzes were helpful because they forced me to study and review lol. Midterms were fair, but the final exam was way harder. Luckily, she adjusted the grades :) +crib sheets were useful!
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
85%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+1.47 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH348
5.0
(1)Math155
2.5
(8)MATH154
2.2
(76)MATH151
1.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
MATH151
5.0
Math155
4.0
MATH154
3.7
MATH348
2.0