3.1
Quality3.9
Difficulty53%
Would Retake187
Reviews53%
Would Retake
187
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
187 total ratings5
87
4
8
3
6
2
17
1
69
What Students Say
“I only chose Alexa because of her ratings last year, but they have cost me my GPA”
COMP1805 - 1.0 rating“But no, she made it seem like it's a student's worst nightmare”
COMP1805 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
26%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+1.09 avg changeRatings by Course
2402W23
5.0
(4)COMP1805A
4.0
(4)COMP2402
4.0
(22)COMP1805
3.0
(148)2402W22
1.6
(5)Difficulty by Course
COMP2402W22
5.0
2402W22
4.8
COMP1805A
4.0
COMP1805
3.9
COMP2402
3.7
Reviews (186)
Very caring prof, excellent lecturer, managed to make the difficult and dry material engaging. She explains very well in plain language. Grade was mostly from assignments, which were quite challenging but posted in advance so you have lots of time to work on them. Overall she gives you all the tools to succeed, you just have to put in the work :)
She. Is. The. Best. Hands down, the best professor I have been taught by yet for Computer Science. COMP2402 is a really dry course if you don't a good prof. But she makes it fun and like a challenging puzzle. She is super caring of her students, and she does a lot of effort to ensure her students' get help as much as possible. Take her class
I have not had a teacher put more effort into their student like Prof Sharp does. Alexa not only gives interesting lectures, but the assignments match the content and teaches great principles. She is an incredibly kind person. She works with students and makes us feel like individuals. She is happy to work with personal needs. The best at CU tbh.
Probably the best computer science professor at Carleton. Lectures are easy to follow and are effective. Assignments were clear and fair. This course made me a much better coder. Was always fast at responding to messages. Highly recommend
Alexa Sharp teaches a hard and tedious class, yet is one of the best profs I've had! Specifically, she is very open to questions, very caring towards her students, incredibly intelligent and above all else, LOVES what she does.
Literally the best prof I've ever had. Made the abstract data types and algorithms class very approachable and interesting. She's awesome, take one of her classes if you're debating it.
Great teacher, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Very nice prof - very refreshing. Provides many resources to better students' learning. I love the coursework structure. Very refreshing to have a forward-thinking prof.
Awesome Prof, super nice, and explains concepts in great detail
Alexa is the best prof at CS, and everyone should respect her no matter if the course is hard or not. In my experience, there were times I struggled and confused on the concepts for the course. As an advice, do not just watch lectures, you also have to read as well as doing the drills. Also the exam is weighed so low and she computes bonus grades.
Alexa is the best prof I've ever had. Have never met a prof that cares more about her students success than her. Best professor at Carleton by far.
I went into this course thinking it would be a lot easier, but instead this course alone takes up 80% of your time. She assigns heavy amounts of work and they are not particularly easy whatsoever. A lot of the answers are ambiguous and the lecture slides are copy pasted from the textbook, also the help is lackluster.
Alexa sharp is a professor which seeks the best for her students. However this does not mean she in necessarily the best. Her lectures covers enormous amounts of material and the assignments are very difficult. Not saying they should be easy, but for a 1st year math course they definitely go on the top list for the hardest assignments I have done.
Although Alexa seems to know her stuff, I would not say that she is a particularly good "professor". The content that she covers in her lectures are alright, but the examples and ideas do not apply to the massive amounts of difficult assignments she assigns us. When asking for help, she does not provide adequate explanations. Would not take again.
Professor Sharp has done more than most profs during online school to make the class accessible even to people who want to do it async. A pity, then, that this class is mind-numbingly hard for no reason, introducing hard theories and extremely complex examples together in a way where neither really make sense. If you like your GPA, stay away.
Very hypocritical prof! It may seem like she cares for her students but her lectures are much heavier than most classes and her assignments are extremely difficult. She's basically just trying to drain your GPA with a crazy course load. Plus, even though she seems like she's happy to help, her explanations are useless.
Prof Alexa is generally a nice teacher, but her expectations are impossible. In order to pass this class, you will need to work 50+ hours a week. She does not like to hear feedback from students as she thinks she's always right. She also assigns heavy work during holidays. This course will throw your gpa to the ground.
The problem sets are worth 50% of the course and are literally impossible to write anything on which are then graded so strictly . The whole course is now composed of proofs which it wasnt like before when this course was an easy A. Thankyou prof Alexa
For someone with a math undergrad, you'd expect them to be better at teaching math. Unfortunately, the prof has failed multiple times to clearly explain the concepts, and considering the pace of the course, in turn, leaves behind many students to fend for themselves. The workload is extremely disproportionate compared to other courses.
Widely discusses in this class that work totals close to 40 hours a week (just for this course), jumping right into proofs and multiple theorems with no clear explanation and very hard problem sets due every 2 weeks (which the last questions aren't covered until a few days before it's due) and hard marking scheme turn this course into a GPA toaster
She doesn't care for students' success at all. The class is supposed to be a introduction to Mathematics in CS. Yet, she expects students to quickly master a lot of those difficult and confusing proofs. The problem sets are also extremely difficult. If she really cared for students, then why would she make the course so hard to pass?
To be honest, Alexa is nice person,however the workload of this course is way too heavy.I spend at least 40-50 hrs each week for this course and struggling spare some time for other courses.I don't know if discrete structure is indeed so difficult or just I'm not good at it, anyway this course really makes me confused about this question.
For a first year student, the University life I wanted is definitely not like this. Lot works to do and don't even have time for social. I expected a fun COMP1805 course as a highly math and computer lover. But this was too much and now the course turned to be a only mandatory course I have to take instead of a course I was looked forward. CRYING.
This class is the most unenjoyable class I've ever taken not mainly cuz of class content but the prof. She never cares about students and gives as much work as she can assign. Every video is longer than the actual class time and I'm always late for the next class. The prof makes the class so hard to accomplish and means to frustrate students.
Thought Discrete Structures was a fun class. But no, she made it seem like it's a student's worst nightmare. Her drills are often pointless and aren't even related to the problem sets. In fact, the p-sets are not only difficult to complete but are also graded harshly. It seems like she just wants students suffer rather than actually helping them.
I could write a 1-3-1 essay on how much grief this class has made me gone through, and it's mostly due to this strict professor. I only chose Alexa because of her ratings last year, but they have cost me my GPA. Her lectures are so confusing and her problem sets are literally not doable for even a phD student.
Alexa is a very nice and respectful prof. I'm giving 1/5 is because of the way she approached discrete structures and all her lectures. Instead of teaching us the fundamentals in a basic manner, she chose to teach it in a way that makes it 100 times more complicated. Her lectures are spread through with material that is not suitable for 1st years.
I feel like keeping things simple is important, especially in lectures. She failed to do so, which caused so many students to struggle and not know what's even happening. A lot of the proofs were taught in a strategy that was much more complicated than a typical math course. Her p-sets are extremely complicated and are almost impossible to finish.
Prof Sharp, here's my word of advice. If you're going to cover a difficult course, please lower the difficulty for problem sets. They are so challenging that most people find it almost impossible to complete. Also, don't overpower us with extremely heavy work. We have other courses to worry about too. Most importantly, please keep lectures SIMPLE.
Very tough tests and problem sets, which make up the majority of the marks.
I dont know why Alexa had to make this course so hard. If you go back to ANY course outline for this course in Carletons history, you will see that the learning outcomes are all similar. But Alexa had to change it and make the course SUPER complicated. Problem sets are impossible, very complicated & the lectures are insanely confusing. Avoid her.
Here is how I describe this class: CRUEL. Her evaluations are almost as difficult as a typical science course. Thanks to her, so many people have depression and/or headaches because they have to work at least 40h+ a week. P-sets are extremely heavy and difficult. In fact, she made it so hard that even lectures and online research don't pay off.
Most painful class. You may be putting lots of effort and attending all lectures. But, you still won't understand what she's talking about at all. She told us that drills would help us with problem sets, when they are not even related to the sets. Very time consuming and sometimes people don't even have time for other courses because of this class.
I feel like Sharp has been chill in the past. Currently, she's giving lots of students a headache. She's happy to answer questions but her assignments and tests have completely crossed the line. It's so tough that researching and doing practice questions won't even help you learn anything. Her lectures are much too heavy for 1st year students.
Thought this was just another easy A, but no, this is the HARDEST and most STRESSFUL class ever (with this prof). Most of your time will be spent on this class, like other reviews, it really does take like 40h per week (or more). Acing all my other courses, but spend like 70% of my time on this one course and barely achieving a 70. STAY AWAY
Her grading scheme is completely unfair. You can come within a millimeter of the correct answer, but that is enough to bring you straight down to a 50%.
This prof expects wayyy to much from us. Gives 3 quizzes a week along with an assignment every 2-3 weeks that takes around 30-40 hours to complete. Even if you spend all of your time on this course, at most you are getting a 70-80.
She always claims she tried so hard to do her job to help us. But to be honest, she has no sense of how the first-year student can handle this course. She is trying all her best to give you a hard time, and you can barely learn anything in this course. She has a magic power to make anything(simply or complex) 10 times complicated than it should be
Very demanding prof. Even she is very friendly but no empathize. Her course destroyed many's passion for CS and college She needs improvement in teaching, and the Department should review her syllabus and material to make sure that the contents and difficulty don't go too far to other prof's. The whole experience is like puzzle solving, no learning
Sharp pretty much doesn't care. She said how she wants to help us understand the material as best as she can but she's just trying to make it more complicated. Her tests and assignments are too difficult for 1st year students to handle. While most math classes give examples, she presents them like a puzzle where students have to do it themselves.
Alexa doesn't explain things well when you ask her, and the drills you do are basically useless to the problem sets. The problem sets are worth too much, basically half your mark. She taught this course backwards (made it harder) as she doesn't really explain topics behind the proofs, or the logic/thought process behind solving proofs.
Course is not easy, every PS took at least 15 hrs. In fact I'm taking this course with 3 other COMP courses that are difficult too. It's painful but definitely doable. The fact that some students being so disrespectful bothers me, i mean you don't get a wonderful prof like her everytime. Yall are grown-ups, so reach out for help or change a major
I simply don't believe this comment, since you need to get enough prerequisites to learn 3 other courses. But how can you still have COMP1805 then? I doubt it. Next time you should make up a more reliable story.
There is no need to say for people to change their major when its not the whole major that is the issue, its 1 course. This professor doesn't help much with the content itself so its not easy to do well, but if you like computer science, stay in it. Don't leave just because 1 course is hard (or a professor is making it harder).
I thought Alexa was going to be amazing, but no. Lecture notes are very confusing. Problem set expectations are extremely high. She expects everyone to use very complicated methods to solve a question, which is absolutely unnecessary. The drills are not even helpful towards tests/p-sets. She will tank your GPA by a lot! Stay away.
Problem sets take 30+ hours and there's 5 of them. Not only that, there's two 2 hour lectures every week, and two drills and a tutorial every week. There is also 2 tests during the semester (1 multiple choice and 1 written for each so really 4 tests). She has self-evaluations that only adds 1 percent to your mark but she thinks it's helping us.
She seems to have an obsession with solving problems indirectly or in a complicated manner. She tried to convince people on p-sets to use her said methods, which are very confusing. In addition, some don't even make sense. She wants to help you understand the concepts but her strategies won't get you far at all. Never learning from her again!
The best I can do to explain the grading in a nutshell is by giving this example - Answer Correct +0 - Work Shown +1 -Missed some small step -5 -Final Question Grade 1/10 ---> F Obviously, this is a joke but this is not far off the truth by any means. This professor is so demotivating and makes you despise the material you once loved. GPA reaper!
I think she's contradicting her goal. She wants to help us but she demands so much from course evaluations. I was really hoping her expectations are clear and every chapter she covers are throughly explained. But since her lectures are so confusing, tests and assignments are way too difficult to finish. Plus, both of them are graded very harshly.
She's a wonderful person, it's easy to tell she means well for us. But, this course is just too much especially for a first year. I feel that if the course was in person it would be better and honestly I would take one of her courses again. She had a good plan but it was executed target poorly and everyone is upset because of that.
Alexa is a great prof, her lectures are very clear and detailed. However, due to the course being difficult to begin with, a lot of shade has been thrown at her instead of the course itself. The curriculum has been altered recently so the material was different. If you do not take notes/do the drills & tutorials you will not succeed in this course.
This is class is very hard. Not because the subject is complicated, but because the amount of work is absolutely beeping insane. I spend on average 25 hours on PSs. 20% is basically given to you for free, so it is not that hard to pass. People like to cry and complain because they are lazy. Alright people I'm ready for the downvotes xD.
Nobody is bashing Alexa on purpose, but when the course is a lot harder than it should be in comparison to past years, who's fault is it? Secondly, much of the class has their mark in the class as an outlier compared to their overall average, and its a bad outlier.
Hardest class ever. Lectures are much more complicated than it is supposed to be, with confusing strategies for solving a problem. Much of the class work really hard on trying to understand the chapters but p-sets and tests encourage methods for solving a question that are extremely difficult to master. Another thing is, they are graded very harsh.
I think she needs to rethink her methods. Even if the course is difficult, can't she keep the lectures simple enough for everyone to understand? So many people are doing poorly her p-sets, since she expects all to use techniques that are extremely challenging. I feel like overcomplicating everything is unnecessary and will create so many gaps.
The way the grades are distributed through tests/quizzes/problem-sets is very reasonable. Though the material for this class (COMP1805) is very difficult, and having it online doesn't make it any easier, I'm definitely content with how the course was laid out as well as how open she was with incorporating student feedback into her lessons.
Shes a nice prof and loves helping others. But, she needs to keep lectures simple. Assignment weight is reasonable but contains questions that are extremely difficult for even an advanced math/CS student. She understands that most people are trying hard but needs to explain why she used the steps she wants in lectures in a clear way.
A lot of students dont want to prove or compute questions the complicated or indirect way unless they have to. However, Sharp expects everyone to do so on almost every assignment or test question, which is extremely confusing. Drill questions only serve as minimal help because many questions on other evaluations dont relate at all.
I am seeing the changes in this course now, even though it is really close to the final. Anyway, the course starting to be fun and interesting recently and I can tell Prof Alexa is trying to make a change here which I give her credit for that. The material in this course is heavy and online makes it tougher, good luck to everyone.
She was nice, seemed genuinely interested in helping every student. Unfortunately, her approach felt all over the place - this was reflected by the amount and variety of assignments as well as all the different platforms we were responsible for using as part of the course (for feedback, class discussions). Took up around 40% of my course-load.
Sharp is a nice prof who has been really helpful with incorporating class discussions for feedback. However, she really needs to simplify assignments as they are extremely difficult for almost every student. The way she schedules the course is a mess too, which has lead to a whole lot of difficulty for students.
This class has much more work than even a challenging math or comp course, which is nonsense because the topics and ideas are meant to serve as stepping stones. Expectations are extremely difficult to meet. Additionally, the way she teaches is almost completely unsuitable for first years. She ironically wants students to solve her puzzle.
I love Sharp's personality and how she is willing to spend time helping students during her office hours. The main issue is how she schedules the course. She throws lots of extremely confusing examples/theorems without extra explanation or important reasoning. She needs to understand that students want notes simplified to do well in her course.
Not a terrible professor, just has completely unrealistic expectations of first year students. This course will take up all of your course load. Tests are in the form of assignments which take around 15 hours to complete. Assignments on the other hand will take upwards of 40. She gives 3 quizzes each week. Unrealistic expectations.
Alexa hopes to get along well with students, which she does. She's also easy to approach for help and encourages group participation. However, she needs to lighten up the course. Tests and assignments are extremely heavy with expectations that are way too overboard. A lot of people feel like they are taking only 1 course because of how heavy it is.
I personally like the prof but with this kind of heavy lectures and high expectation of the prof from the first year students, I am definitely sure that you will feel this course extremely heavy. I am also struggling and this course is like equivalent to 2 major courses for me. If you will have to take this course, just be prepared. It will be hard
Not what you are expecting from your first year major course. Prof has unrealistic expectation on her students and she will expect you to do well no matter how hard the assignments are going to be.
Overall, this class was a terrible experience. Her course layout and expectations were completely unrealistic and no first year student should have to experience the difficulty in this class.
Originally I liked her enough that it outweighed the pure misery of this class but at this point I'm so sick and frustrated with it. For the most part assessment questions are based off tutorials so you just learn how to follow a template. I have a high mark but feel like I know nothing, Which is odd, considering the class demands 30+ hours a week.
- Gives lots of assignments and drops lowest grade in a variety of assessments (including drills, tutorials and problem sets) - You will need to go to office hours to meet with the TA's and prof to understand what to do on the problem sets - Changed the course structure halfway during the year after listening to student concerns.
She is honestly an amazing prof, she actually cares about her students' well being AND actually cared about how the class did. Her rating used to be a 5 in the beginning of the term and I genuinely don't understand how it went down by so much. Yes the content is difficult but she gives many chances to succeed in the class if you work for it.
Alexa instructed this course at the same time as Pat Morin, thy used the same grading scheme/course structure. That makes it hard to grade her ability to structure the course well, keep that in mind when you read the other reviews for where some of the praise might belong. She cares and does her best to explain clearly. Offline -> better suit her.
Absolutely insane expectations. This class and this professor will be remembered as the worst combination for a very long time. Luckily I escaped with the money I paid for the course once I realized how things were progressing but others were not so lucky.
This is just a hard course in general so I wont blame it all on her but she couldve explained some things better and slower. Also gives a lot of quizzes and assignments that you have to put at least 20 hrs into. I put in a lot of work to get the half decent mark that I got. But Alexa was clearly very passionate about the subject which I can admire.
It's a shame to see Prof Alexa receive immature insults when, in fact, she deeply cares for the education of her students. Indeed her courses require effort to succeed, but I assure you that the work pays off in that you truly learn the material. It's refreshing to partake in dynamic courses driven by somebody who believes in true pedagogy.
(For COMP1805 last term) She's a very accommodating prof and a great person to get along with. But she just needs to get better. Her course expectations are way too extreme, especially on her assignments, which are very difficult for even an advanced math student. She needs to reason a lot more in her lectures for students to further understand.
She isn't the most organized prof but she cares a lot about her students and is very easy to approach. Her course plans tend to fall apart very quicky as there are lots of lectures that cover things at a level that's too difficult for early years. She really needs to keep her lecture notes simple.
After taking her COMP1805 course I can confidently say she's a good person and very adaptable to feedback. However, taking the feedback is a different story. People asked her to release the class average and she kept refusing, then bragged about it being 71% and called us "haters". Also way too intense for a first year course. Avoid.
Alexa is a great person, she generally cares about students, fun and approachable. But her course is a completely differnt story, drills, tutorials, problem sets at the same time, problem sets were graded very strictly, it was extremely frustrating. I take comp2804 this term and it somehow feels way easier. I got an A but man did I suffered.
She is the most organized prof I've ever had. There are a lot of deliverables in the class but you really only need to focus on the Problem Sets. The rest is either worth <6% each or is just free marks. I spent on average 40hrs /Problem set to make sure I did well. She drops 1 of the problem set marks and if you did it anyway it becomes bonus.
Assignments take forever, very difficult.
This course was really painful as 30% of the class ended up failing. The assignments and tests contained information that my girlfriend in year 4 Math saw on her assignments and tests. The difficulty of the assignments considering that this is a first-year course is ridiculous, and they take over 40 hours to complete. Don't take as an elective.
There would be no actual coding done in the lecture but useless notes that wouldn't help much during the insanely difficult assignments. Assignments are worth the majority of your grade, so you're better off self-teaching yourself with as many resources as you could find
Do not take this professor for the sake of your mental health. The lectures are disorganized and do not prepare you AT ALL for any of the assignments. The workload is extremely unrealistic and it is very difficult to access a TA, let alone find one that can answer your question.
The worst experience ever, she is a nice woman, but unfortunately teaching is not for her. I wish she will let other Profs to teach this course if she cares about student's future.
Don't listen to these other bozos putting 1 star reviews, honestly they're just salty people who got bad grades because they don't want to put the work in and are now blaming the profs. Teacher is great, lectures are very organized and clear and she always answers questions ASAP. Easily the best teacher I've had so far
Lots of work that take a long time to do and she looks like she is caring, but actually not. If you like challenge and have tone of time, she would be the ideal professor. she’s the professor that would say if you didn’t get a good grade, that because you not trying hard enough. I would spend whole 50hr to do a single assignment to get a 70%
She is a nice woman! She seems interested in her work and seems to know the material quite well. But expectations are kinda nuts. The lectures are okay, but they don't help with assignments. The assignments were brutally hard. Takes ~30hrs to get a 70. She says to not do a Q for more than 20 mins. I come back and ask for help and I am still lost.
The assignments were so hard that it took me almost four or five days to complete them and get a low grade.
Ok so its a mega mixed bag here. Prof Alexa is clearly putting in effort to help wherever she can, there is no doubting her effort. But effort can only help so much when you have a fundamentally awful plan for a semester. Tons of work, constant necessary upkeep, a wide difficulty difference between lecs and assignments. It was brutal, and doomed.
Don't worry about these salty students. If you watch the material, and understand each data structure, she makes the assignment difficulty rely on how well you understand logic. GO TO OFFICE HOURS or else you will be stuck. I do agree though sometimes the assignment's nit pick certain things. Long hours spent on assignments. Overall decent prof.
She clearly cares about the subject material and the students, her only downfalls are the insanely hard assignments and her tendency to be a bit informal at inappropriate times, I do like it when my profs drop formality but imagine getting a D on an assignment and then receiving an email that's signed off "- Prof Sharp, xD"
Alexa is one of the best professors I have ever met, wise upbeat and friendly. The class is a bit hard, but she knows the crux of the matter. Fair, hard assignments, but, the grading is friendly. I was surprised to see many people give Alexa a low grade. It is NOT true, follow the professor's pace you will learn a lot and achieve a good grade.
Yall straight bozos!
It's not easy class, you need to think in discrete way, and you need to learn the syntax of discrete mathematics, it's hard but fun. Alexa is an exceptionally good & smart professor, she doesn't deserve this low grade! The assignments are hard, but as long as you take the time to think and do them, they are willing to give you high marks
Run. RuN. I figured it out my first class, you will too or take my advice and RUN. I have seen some bad professors but she lowers those standards so much I'd call the other guys angels.
There's nothing to blame on her personality since she's a really nice and caring prof. However, the most ridiculous part is her assignments. They don't even tie to the lectures at all. Even the logical concepts in the course hardly relate to assignments. She's willing to help you as much as she can but that doesn't always clear critical confusion.
No Comment......
Alexa's the best prof to learn from but not to pass from. She gives assignments that are exceedingly difficult, with so much load that's not even equivalent to first-year students. Plus, it hits like a truck, meaning the assignments are worth most of your grade. She's easy to get along w/but I wouldn't bother taking her for course credit.
very hard, wouldnt reccomend, very little practice besides lectures
Very hard prof and long lectures, hard to follow and understand material.
Not good at actually teaching the material.
Professor is very knowledgeable and is good at teaching. The only problem with Prof Alexa is that if you miss 5 minutes of a lecture, you won't understand anything. The lectures are tough and assignments are tougher.
Overall, Alexa is a good professor. The issue lies within the assignments that she gives out. They are a great deal harder than anything taught in the lectures, which are already hard to follow. I like the accessibility options with every lecture being online, and she is nice, but the course needs a heavy rework.
All these people are complaining too much. Final exam is only worth 12% and you can work together on the problem sets which are worth 48%. Class is difficult she's more than skilled enough to teach them effectively. Keep up with the work and read over the notes and you'll get a good mark. Don't take the class if you don't have the time.
Like the other person said, people complain too much because they can't keep up with the work. If you pay attention in lectures, take notes, attend tutorials, and take the time to understand, you will do fine. It requires an incredible amount of critical thought and deep work to get a good mark in this course. Prof. Alexa is amazing
Amazing prof who clearly cares about her students learning the material. Tons of practice and bonus marks available, don't know why anyone gives her a low score. The problem sets are, of course, difficult but it's just a hard class with a great prof. Just go to office hours when you're stuck and you should be fine.
Good prof, explains content clearly and thoroughly.
The course can be overwhelming but the professor is brilliant at explaining the course material. You might not get an A+ but you actually understand the material and you'd be able to use it.
Alexa gives a lot of opportunities to get bonus marks. The assignments are hard but I found the written test were easy if you had done the problem sets and tutorials. The quizzes sometimes can be a bit vague though in terms of what definitions were used in certain proofs.
Will try to be balanced. - Topic itself (not prof) is hard - Prof great at explaining. Lightning fast feedback on Piazza. Cares for pupils. - Prof smtimes sloppy w/ notation, handwriting hard 2 read. - Tutorials annoying. PSets fun. - lotta coursework; I fell behind in last 2 weeks - Coursework counts for a lot (bombed the final but still got A+)
I was in the async section, which Prof Alexa made really thorough and clear videos explaining concepts. She uses a lot of different tools to make sure you can get the resources you need to be successful in the course. Alexa and TAs are easily accessible (via online forums and tutorials) so asking question was easy and accessible. Would recommend!!
Went into the sem feeling worried bc of the 2.x rating, but turned out to be entirely unfounded and I have no idea why she gets the amount of hate that she does. Subject is inherently difficult but there's tons of resources to get help and Alexa is very understanding, wants students to succeed, gives partial credit where she can. Final is only 12%!
She's the best prof I had all semester. The way this class is structured makes it easy for students to succeed even though the course material itself is difficult. Alexa provides many resources in order to help her students and truly cares about how they're doing in the course. She's very kind and is great at teaching the course material.
80% of problem sets and tests (proof) are easy questions. Another 20% questions are not so straight but still not difficult. Piazza is very good, you can have answers in 1 or 2 days. Best Prof in first term, because the lecture materials are very organized, easy to follow, and easy to ask questions. I never went to office hours, Piazza is enough.
I heard last year all assignments are very difficult. I think it could be the reason she got the low rate. But this year, I found most problems are easy. Though you still need a lot of time to study and do assignments.
Course Info: 78% class average, daily online TA hours with a clear schedule, provided many resources to ask questions, majority of grade falls on problem sets that you have 2~3 weeks to do. Personal Impression: Alexa is a great teacher who gives students every opportunity they need to succeed. She is approachable, friendly, and very knowledgeable.
Absolutely amazing. Knows you by your name. Course is insanely difficult, but she gives you SO MANY resources to succeed.
Excellent and engaging lectures which often cover very tricky subjects. Alexa and her TA's are always quick to respond to any questions, and most of the tests and assignments are easy if you put in the time and effort. Overall, she makes a very hard course approachable and understandable for every student.
Just wonderful
She is the best prof I've ever had. She's brilliant, thoughtful, and inspiring. She adapts very quickly to students' demands. Her class is very engaging and flexible (you can choose to study online or offline). Although the course is quite overwhelming with many assignments, you'll understand the topics better after those exercises.
In my opinion, she has very clear marking scheme and the only way for you to fail this course is not studying. Exams did not take a large percentage of the course so if you don't constantly put in the work then that is when you feel like you can not catch up with the content
you'll have a nice experience with her
While apparently last year was a different story, this year comp 1805 wasn't bad at all. Clearly she's taken her feedback seriously. Prof posts notes that are pretty clear and drills and tutorials as well as problem sets help with understanding material. Lots of opportunity for bonus too
Might be one of the greatest and most passionate professors I've ever had. Although the course work is very tough, requires countless hours, and makes you want to pull your hair out, she does a great job teaching the and offers a vast amount of resources to help you succeed. Overall, Alexa is an extremely supportive and reasonable professor.
Screw the scrubs. Just gotta get good. She's a good prof, bro
This class was frustrating. Alexa's lectures are fine, but she writes all of her lecture notes by hand, which makes them very hard to read. The class also has a ton of work, with two weekly quizzes per week, and lengthy assignments every few weeks, which can be a lot alongside other courses.
Did well in this course but it did not come off as easy at all. In fact, the course was a crazy nightmare, consisting of weekly quizzes and lengthy assignments with a level of difficulty way beyond first-year level. She's easy to approach though and chill during lectures.
What. the flip. I have never in my life ever never ever experienced a prof like this. Oh my goodness gracious. Her labs are atrocious, her lectures are useless. Overall avoid this prof at all costs.
Lectures are useless her assignments DO NOT corelate, she teaches one thing and expect another. NEVER TAKING AGAIN AVOIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
As someone who took her class last year, I did pretty well but how she handled the course was extremely difficult. Drills were good practice but were far from helpful towards the labs, which are weighted heavily. She tries to make her lectures engaging but the content was almost pointless. Had to rely on textbooks. Luckily, the exam was easier.
Lectures are engaging but consist of useless stuff. Sure, the prof is nice and wants to be helpful, but most of the time, you're just utterly confused. Labs are worth more than half of your entire grade, which is almost an instant fail if you don't pass it. If you don't have your textbook as a guide to the topics, you're probably close to failing.
Pretty cool, entertaining lectures. Very accessible for questions and enthusiastic about the material. The labs are pretty fun. Would recommend.
Idk why she got so many bad reviews. I'm lazy, so I just watch her Fall 2022 lecture videos. She has course notes AND tests were online, which is pog. The one quip most students have is that the assignments(labs) are soo hard, but that's just a part of the course. Not her fault. I did most of it by myself and TA's exist too. Took it in first year
Pros: - Great at teaching - Labs are fun and make you think - Responsive prof (she made labs easier after realizing lab 2 was too hard) - Can be done fully remotely - Labs split in parts so it's not all/nothing Cons: - Confusing wording in tests / pre/post labs - Hard labs, office hours are must for most - Labs sometimes buggy
Pros - Great at teaching - Fun labs (make you think) - Responsive to feedback (made future labs easier after lab 2 was too hard) - Can be done fully remotely - Labs split into parts- not all/nothing Cons - Confusing wording on tests & pre/post labs - Hard labs (TAs are must for most) some took too much time - Labs sometimes buggy - Small bonus (3%)
Great class!
I think Alexa gets a bad rap. She has a unique was of presenting things that didn't work for alot of people, but it did for me, and if you fall into the same boat she's one of the best profs you'll have. the best way I can describe it is instead of focusing on spefics, she builds up the bigger picture and works out the specifics with you.
Ignore what others say on here, undoubtedly she is one of the clearest and most concise Profs I have had. Currently in my 4th year, and have never had such an organized Professor and one who has this much passion. People's criticisms of her seem to be based on their lack of understanding of the subject, which just naturally takes a lot of work.
I'm not sure what more you could ask of a prof. Alexa, by far, puts the most amount of effort into her lectures and material than any other prof I've seen. She's extremely accessible through the forums and is genuinely interested in your learning. It's definitely not an easy course, but it's not hard to do well if you put the time in.
siuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
THATS WHY SHES THE GOAT THE GOATTTTTTTTTT
i like math
tahts the goat
AMAZING SHOULDERS
she def does like 300 shoulder press
amazing organization
awesome vibe
loves the online kids
proof my pigeonhole that shes the goat
Proof by induction siuuu
greatest
I have no idea why Prof Alexa has lower ratings. I'd guess she is rated low due to the hard nature of the course of 1805. She really knows her stuff, provides so many resources, is always open to feedback and gives many opportunities to do well. If you work hard, you can easily get a good grade.
Best prof, super nice and fun, gives really good feedback. Not only that, the grading is super clear and nice. Very easy to get feedback and ask question. All in all, top tier prof, people who don't like her are just no iq.
Overall very challenging and homework heavy course, but is generally a very 'human', caring/energetic teacher. Gives online course notes and lectures, 100% accessible online. Prof is great, the course she's teaching is unfortunately difficult. Would take prof again, though def not this course. most bad reviews seem old, dont believe them
The subject matter is pretty tough by nature I think but alexa is a really good prof who explains the material very well. This course has a LOT of homework, but all of it is quite useful and fairly graded. Be prepared for weekly problem sets, tutorials and drills.that being said this course will give you a very strong foundation in discrete math
Prof Alexa might get a bad rap here, but I think that's mostly due to the difficulty of the courses itself. We do plenty of coursework, but I find it was a perfect amount to make sure we actually understood all the new content, and doing the tests, I felt much more confident. She also dropped evaluations, and provides bonus opportunities as well.
I loved my experience with Alexa. She gives many opportunities to do well in her class and is always willing to lend a helping hand (as well as my king Yousef
All the people giving a bad rating are just bad at school. the course is just setup so that there is a lot of courseload. and there is a lot of leeway in her grading scheme, tests aren't worth a lot and she drops your lowest assignments.
lots of weekly work but has free marks up for grabs
I think a lot of students don't know the course itself; it is hard, but I guarantee she explained it very well. there is a lot of homework to do, but I promised you it gets easy when you see the TA, (especially Yusuf). Overall, she is a good teacher.
Alexa is an amazing prof who only gets a bad rep because she teaches a difficult class. If you ask the TAs questions and do your problem sets ahead of time you will get an A+. She's also extremely organized and you shouldn't have any problems following along with course material if you take notes and do her suggested problems.
She's a dedicated prof who cares about making the material as easy to digest and understand as possible. Posted handwritten notes, typed notes, and prerecorded lectures where she thoroughly explains concepts. Discrete math isn't easy to teach well, and I think she pulls it off as best as anybody could. Assignments are doable, start them early
Amazing prof, great at teaching. Lots of homework but that's required in a course that's hard such as discrete structures. Very patient with questions, and puts in the effort to know the names of everyone in the class.
Alexa Sharp is the best professor at Carleton imo. I don't think any professor cares as much as she does in trying to improve her course and create a good environment to learn. She has a true passion for teaching and it shows through her amazing lectures. If you have any questions she makes it incredibly easy to ask in person and online.
I kind of got the short end of the stick by accidentally booking the course entirely online and not changing it, so I was forced to watch poorly taught videos where she talks the whole time over a document. I attended 1 or 2 classes, she seemed nice and the lectures were probably good, but this is easily the hardest class I've ever taken, I hatedIt
I see her as a mom, it seems like she does care about her students and has their best interest at heart. Her questions are very verbose, so I had difficulty understanding at times but she is always active answering questions and will go through examples with you until you understand eventually. You can do well if you start early.
alexa i love you, you are such a kind and amazing prof i wish to have you for future classes
By far the most caring prof. Cares about students doing well and is always available to answer questions. Bad ratings reflect how hard the course is, not how she teaches. she gives lots of opportunities to get the best marks possible and is always available outside of class. Lots of homework, but its what makes you succeed in a class like this.
amazing !!!!
One of the best profs I've had. She cares so much about student success and is always available to help. The course is challenging but manageable with the right approach - do the work, use unstuck ai along with the course materials, and you'll do great.
One of the best profs I've had. Excited for the next course she teaches.
very structured lectures and chill prof
Prof Alexa is amazing! She is keen to helping students succeed and the way she sets up her course leads to exactly that. You really can't fail this course without TRYING to fail. There's so many resources to get bonus points and she's very easy to get ahold of outside of class. Semester hasn't ended yet but I would definitely take her again .
Prof Alexa is a great proffessor who offers so many opportunities for you to gain bonus marks throughout the class to boost your grade significantly so even if you get a lower mark on the exam it is not weighted as heavily and you are still able to get a good grade in the class so long that you can put in the time to do the bonus.
She's really passionate about teaching, and contrary to my initial expectations, I actually had a fun time in COMP1805. The flipped classroom was tough this year - having to watch ~2hrs worth of lectures and still show up to class for activities - but I ended up learning more than I would have in a regular format. I would 100% take her class again.
All lecture content is covid era recordings 2+ hours weekly, then two have 2 in person tests every week. Absolute NO explanation of course content or anything closely related will happen in class, just come to give a test. This was a pathetic way teaching a class. The professor is herself nice but her role could just be fulfilled by a TA.
The course is a bit heavy. I spend at least 2 hours each week preparing before lectures, and there is also a weekly test. However, the professor is excellent. She teaches very useful material and provides plenty of bonus opportunities. I rated the course as very difficult because I need spend lots of time on it.
Flipped class model from years ago. Does not show up to class, run by TAs only. Does not respond to DMs on Discord, sometimes responds on Discord. Tested 3 times a week and 2 of those are for attendance but you cannot leave after. Wooclaps are a pain in the ass, drills are useless, no practice problems given (stated in the syllabus).
Great prof y'all are delusional she really cares for her students yes its graded harshly but its a tough course
COVID-Era lectures, Wooclaps that just waste time, drills that don't help despite being "helpful" by prof Alexa, tested 3 times a week, 2 require attendance, doesn't show up on 1 of those 2. No practice problems. Tutorial example problems used in lecture videos. No lectures in person, just testing. Job is replaceable to a TA.
She a good professor, this year we had a flipped class and It was not good to say the least.
Only thing saving her from 1 star is she gives out a lot of bonus marks. Alexa is caring, but the flipped classroom format is not it. I've never taken a course that demanded so much of your time every week. Prepare to neglect your other courses. The weekly quizzes are incredibly difficult, and all you can do is write down slop hoping for part marks
very very bad class struct, she thinks this is the only we have demanding 20 hours per week just for her, never replied to an email.
Prof Alexa is the best prof I've had since being at Carleton. I got close to 100% in this course as there were so many bonus opportunities. Her energy in the classes is so contagious and amazing. Personally, I liked the flipped classroom. Literally 33% of my grade was just showing up to class and tutorials. All tests, including exams are open book.
One of the best professors I've ever seen. YES, the course is heavy, its a hard topic, and the prof clearly shows that. she makes it very practice heavy by rewarding you if you do any practice, which helps balance the (low) marks you get from the DIFFICULT weekly quizzes. Every quiz, midterm and exam was open book to counter how heavy the course is
I really enjoyed discrete math because of her. She's experienced and explains things clearly. You watch lecture videos before class and practice in class. Weeks 1–6 and the midterm were easy, but after week 7 it gets tougher. The final was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT but only 15%. This course needs a lot of your time outside of class.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
26%
Textbook Required
0%
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5.0
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