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Very boring class. Horrible teacher. Often made up examples that he couldn't finish.

Most boring teacher ever. Seems like a nice old guy, but really, i don't know how he got into teaching, much less into teaching at the U of M. Weird analogies "you can say the sun is blue, you can write the sun is blue but it doesn't make any sense" . He must have used it like 17 times in one lecture. Useless, im skipping all his lectures from now on. I'd learn better with the book/

i stopped going to his lectures, because the book teaches me better. this guy will just confuse you. he drew the sine curve wrong! i seriously don't know how he still has a job. the only reason he is funny is because his "jokes" don't make sense.

Very unclear. Going to lecture would be pointless. His final is impossible. Just hope your TA is good.

Examples were not good, and quite unclear.

This professor was really boring. Yea his jokes were funny due to the majorly dry humor he had but he did not explain things well nor did he always teach the proper things. I stopped going to lecture pretty quickly because the book, TA and doing the homework was a lot better.

IF YOU HAVE THIS PROFESSOR, DROP THE CLASS IMMDIATELY OR SWITCH TEACHERS...he doesnt know what his TA's do behind his back, the tests arent on the class material, the book is not helpful, and he DOES NOT care if you pass or not. He also lies about the curve at the end of the semester, and screws over everyone involved.

this was the worst teacher i have ever had. i went to a horrible small town high school, and the teachers there would put this guy to shame. he brings up material that is not at calc 1 level to finish his crap examples. he doesnt care if anyone passes and proves it by not conveying any material on the tests.

In summary, he's a terrible teacher. Kind of unorganized, sometimes teaches the whole class the wrong stuff without correcting it & worese, there's no TA!. Doesnt answers students questions clearly in class. Exams are extremely hard. Just imagine how you'd answer theoretical questions in a midterms/final with 7 sub questions for each questions.

Worst professor I've ever had. I could count on one hand the number of examples he's solved correctly. Doesn't explain anything clearly and presents the material in a terrible way. Avoid like the plague

He needs to retire. His explanation of theory and application are horrid and incomprehensible at times. Do not take this professor if you can help it. The TA's are awesome and if you get stuck with him, will be your life savers.

He is good and he knows what he is talking about, lectures are interesting and very clear, if you pay attention in class you don't even have to go to the ta session or find a tutor. i mean. . . JUST KIDDING, HES TERRIBLE AND MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU IF YOU END UP TAKING HIS CLASS

I had taken 2 years of calculus prior to taking his class, yet somehow EVERY SINGLE LECTURE he would confuse me and everyone else in the room. He makes multiple mistakes in every example he tries to show and is nearly impossible to follow. But on the plus side, he is a cute little old grandpa. My TA was very helpful.

Professor Marden certainly has a love for mathematics. However, for a Calc 1 class, his lectures are very confusing and often too conceptual for the majority of the classto understand. Even haven taken Calc I before, this class was confusing and difficult. If you can, try your best not to take an introductory Calc class.

This guy straight up makes no sense. I have him for my Calc I lecture, and I've taken Calc before. He chooses the worst way to describe various concepts of Calculus. He lays out everything in unfriendly abstract terminology to the point where even someone who knows Calculus has no idea what's going on. He makes frequent mistakes and needs to retire

This guy makes literally zero sense. I had never taken calc before and it was already confusing enough to begin with. He will write a problem on the board, explain it and get an answer. Then he'll stare at it for 30 seconds and decide that answer is wrong and completely change it or go off on a tangent about math or calc in general

He often writes his notes down wrong, and will have to go back and try to fix the whole problem, but it won't work out. He also doesn't explain each step he just writes his answer, and if he messes up some times he will just move on to the next problem. Tests are way harder than his review he will give the day before.

so frustratingly incompetent. everyone would get up and leave during the middle of lecture because he does not know what he is teaching. also does not respond to emails so very rude.

Terrible professor! Avoid at all costs. He's not clear in presenting the material, rants about random things, and makes a lot of mistakes. His exams are nothing like the problems he assigns. Good luck if you take calc from him and know there's a high chance you could be retaking this class. Run away if you know what's good for you.

Al Mardin is the worst math teacher I have ever had. He is a bumbling fool and should be regarded as such.

Really bad teacher. I really wished that someone warned me before signing up for this class. He doesn't make anything clear and his tests are ridiculous. Everyone makes fun of him in the class so you can't even listen to him because everyone else is talking around you.

Definitely the worst professor I've ever had. He doesn't know what he's doing in lecture, makes countless mistakes, and can't even do the HW problems he assigns. Also his exams are very difficult because they're different than what the lecture/book covers. If you ask a question in class, he'll tiptoe around it and ask for more questions. Very bad.

He is the least competent professor I have ever had. He should just retire before he confuses more students.

Terrible professor. To be honest, I don't think he could even get an A in his own class. He does not teach his students, he writes problems on the board that he can't even understand without copying off his note sheet. Most of the time he'll get the problem wrong and then abandon it because its too hard for him. You'll do everything on your own

He was very useless when it came to class. I learned way more by listening to my TA and never missing discussion.

Al Marden is a complete and utter buffoon. Nice guy, but VERY delusional most of the time. I literally never learned a single thing in lecture. He often times gets lost and can't remember what he was doing. Class averages on our midterms were also always lower than 65. If you've never taken calc before, this class could be ugly...

Don't quite understand all the positive reviews on here. I like math and I've even taken calculus before. But Mr Marden is just a terrible teacher. He is old and processes things very slowly, often causing him to forget what he was doing. He can't answer questions, they seem to dumbfound him. DON'T TAKE HIS CLASS if you don't already know calculus!

A very friendly guy with a laid back disposition. He often makes attempts to crack jokes in class (although not often very funny). He seems nice at heart, but his ability to convey a simple message are terrible at best. His examples are confusing and he has troubles solving his own problems. If you have Mr. Marden extra work is necessary to learn.

His class and his teaching is really confusing. I did most of the studying myself. Usually get confused whenever I go to lecture so I stopped going. His lectures are way too confusing.

WORST PROFESSOR EVER! AVOID AT ALL COST. HE IS NEVER CLEAR OR CONCISE WHEN TEACHING, CAN NEVER FIGURE OUT HIS OWN PROBLEMS, PUTS DOWN STUDENTS, AND IS USELESS AND GETS UPSET WHEN YOU VISIT HIM DURING OFFICE HOURS. HAS NO INTEREST TO SEE HIS STUDENTS SUCCEED. DO YOURSELF THE FAVOR AND TAKE A DIFFERENT PROFESSOR, BECAUSE MARDEN IS THE WORST PROFESSOR

In his lecture right now... He is not good. He's smart, yes, but being smart doesn't mean he can teach. Seems nice though.

This professor, though he may have tenure, should not be teaching such a high level class. Often in lecture, he stumped himself by teaching us the wrong way to complete problems and often was taught by the class. His 200 person lecture dwindled to around 15 students by the second week. Your textbook will teach you more than he ever will.

I would really try to avoid this professor. I feel as though he doesn't even care if we get the material or not. He once spent a whole lecture on a problem that he could not solve in the end and told us to disregard it... If you do get him, and your TA isn't too great too, I really recommend YOUTUBE VIDEOS. :)

I tagged "lectures are long" because they will literally feel never-ending. To get through two example problems a lecture is a miracle for Marden. With every step he makes 2-3 mistakes and then eventually just gives up and tells you to go figure it out on your own. I had previously taken and passed calc 2 and I still struggled in the class. AVIOD.

CHOOSE ANY OTHER PROFESSOR. He is senile and often extremely confused on what he is doing. Rarely went start to finish on a problem correctly. Tests are far from what we learn in class.

Professor Marden is pretty terrible. He is definitely a smart guy, but he is an awful lecturer. His tests aren't so bad though, they're still hard but not impossible.

Not sure if it is just me but I have the worst profs ever. Transferring out next semester so I don't go through the same thing

Went to professor Marden's lectures was utterly confused, got 40 and 50% on the discussion quizes, and barley squeeked by with a c on the first midterm. Stopped going to his lecture and started going to my TA hours instead started getting 90 - 100% on quizzes and B's and A's on midterms. Its safe to say Al is the opposite of helpful.

Taking Calculus II with Dr. Marden is a very bad decision! Although very knowledgable, he is very unclear, presents fast and without good presentation skills, he forgets and makes lots of mistakes. His tests are ridiculously difficult, and with his poor teaching skills, its very unlikely youll get over an 75. AVOID DR. MARDEN AT ALL COSTS.

Old and senile man that should not be allowed to teach. Avoid at all costs! Thankfully reading the book and doing as much practice problems as I could was enough for me to get a good grade.

WORST.

Marden is a very smart man but doesn't know how to teach students. He makes mistake often. His horrible teaching forced me to rely on my book and TA to learn the material. The tests are much harder than the suggested problems.

I feel bad for writing a negative review b/c Marden does seem like a very nice man. However, I want to warn everyone to avoid his class. I took calc in highschool. I did well. I didn't even do bad in this class, but I felt terrible for all the first time calc students. The class was so unclear and he had trouble solving his own problems.

Prof. Marden is a sweet old man however he is the worst professor I have had in my 3 years of college. He writes in size 12 font for an entire lecture hall, does not explain any step when doing a problem just writes it out and goes along. Also when he does a problem many times it is wrong and we have to spend class time correcting his mistakes.

Worst teacher I have ever had in my entire life. Stopped showing up because he confused me more than he taught me. Writes illegibly and doesn't know how to solve his own problems. I took calc 1 last year and all he did was confuse me. Taking my fist midterm tomorrow, pray 4 me. I will update on how it goes assuming that I am still alive

He doesn't really like to work with students . If you go to his office hours, he will try to make you leave in less than 3 minutes. His exams are hard but some HW questions are even harder.

Worst teacher/professor I have ever had. If you haven't taken calc. 1 in high school you will likely have to learn everything on your own. He just writes things on the board and expects everyone to understand what he is doing without explanation. He usually doesn't answer people's questions and assumes everyone can read his mind on what he is doing

His handwriting is barley legible and he often gets confused and has to have students come up to the board to fix his mistakes. He gets confused in the middle of his problems and asks the class how exactly he got to that point in the problem. I recommend using online resources like khan academy to teach you everything.

Worst professor I've ever had. I just took the second midterm and started crying because the questions were nothing like the homework or like anything else. Better yet, he couldn't even solve one of these problems by himself because within every lecture he always makes mistakes, and we spend the whole time trying to correct him. Avoid Avoid AVOID!!

Worst professor I've had, my high school calc teacher was better than this - midterms are extremely difficult, lectures are pointless, you can learn more by going online.. avoid marden at all costs

Al is possibly the worst professor I've had. He messes up examples consistently in lectures, so his lectures make no sense. His tests are nothing like what he lectures or what the homework is, and he makes the tests nearly impossible. Would not recommend his professor, take LITERALLY anyone else.

This guy honestly needs to retire, I went to a review session yesterday and he couldn't figure out a pretty basic problem. He does this all the time during class and he stands up at the board not knowing what to do, then he puts unreasonable hard problems on the midterms. There is no way he could solve some of these without an answer key.

Dr. Marden is a very sweet man, however he is not an effective teacher by any means. It came to the point where I stopped going to his lectures because I was learning nothing and instead found a different teacher. His tests are ridiculously hard, even if you understand the material very well. He often cannot solve his own problems in lecture.

Worst Professor in my life! makes mistakes on the board, he uses old material on exams and not on current subjects, Cannot teach, students go to other professors lectures to learn. USELESS, curves are so big that a 37% is in the C range, average on every exam is an F. DO NOT TAKE HIM.

AVOID Professor Marden like the plague! Makes mistakes when solving problems, mumbles, can't explain concepts, gets lost trying to figure out his own problems, and clearly just can't teach. Tests ("midterms") were ridiculously hard and he didn't even tell us the right things to study. I had already taken Calc 1 in high school and still struggled.

Unless you already have an incredibly strong background in clac and also have an amazing TA I recommend against taking this class with Albert. He doesn't seem to know what he's ever talking about. Most students stop attending lectures and rightfully so. He doesn't explain what he's doing and mistakes are unusually common.

This professor does not know how to teach at all. I am telling you, he is a smart man but he messes up a lot in class. He makes many mistakes while explaining a problem then decides not to finish explaining and he just skips it. Super hard tests, really bad professor. Would not recommend not even to my worst enemy.

Makes all the midterms EXTREMELY difficult, doesn't care about his students and is the worst professor or teacher I've ever had. The only good thing is the final will be very easy because it is written by a different calc professor. If you want an A you will have to study for countless hours.

Marden is one of those professors who makes you hope you have an awesome TA. I found attending lecture was pointless. He is constantly making mistakes in his work, yet is unable to identify them. For my section, the only grades were the 3 exams and the final. Exams are ridiculously difficult. Avoid this guy if you can. If not, pray for a good TA.

While Prof Marden is an adorable character, he is a little past his prime as an instructor. I discontinued attending all lectures after multiple frustrating incidents in which he completely bungled his own problems in class and had to be corrected by students. He suffers from obvious memory loss and struggles to connect with students.

Albert is an extremely nice man but he has no business teaching. He mumbles very badly, can't understand anything at all. Also his hand writing is horrific, you need to try and piece together his handwriting and lecture to try understand anything. Tests are way harder than the material he covers in class. The TA is probably a much better teacher.

If you are an unassuming freshman... beware. Marden's lectures are essentially pointless. He doesn't really cover actual homework problems or questions that would be on an exam. They are more theoretical, theorem based examples. Midterms are impossibly difficult. In listening to other students, there are far better professors for this class.

A terrible professor. Not very good at actually doing the math. Taught the chain rule wrong during lecture. If you didn't already take calc in high school, it will be very hard to understand what is going on, and you will have to rely heavily on your TA. Take a different professor, this was awful.

Graduated from the U today. This was the worst teacher/professor I had throughout my entire academic career. Had him in Fall of 2016. Not sure if he still teaches. He was absolutely clueless during lectures and lied about what would be on exams. I sure hope he isnt texting anymore, for his own good and for the good of students at this school.