2.5
Quality3.2
Difficulty39%
Would Retake108
Reviews39%
Would Retake
108
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
25
4
8
3
8
2
17
1
50
What Students Say
“rude and condescending”
MATH120 - 1.0 rating“Im only taking her class for the gen's”
MATH105 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
91%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.43 avg changeRatings by Course
STAT130
4.0
(2)MATH141
3.0
(7)MATH105
2.7
(15)MATH121
2.6
(17)STAT101
2.6
(43)Difficulty by Course
MATH120
4.5
MATH121
3.4
MATH118
3.4
MATH141
3.3
STAT101
3.3
Reviews (108)
She talks down to students when they ask reasonable questions. She treats everyone like they are stupid and it is rude and demeaning. The homework is extensive and repetitive for no reason. I would not recommend taking her.
She talks down to students and acts like we are stupid for not understanding what she is talking about. She cannot explain anything and makes at least three MATH MISTAKES in the class. I'm talking about addition/subtraction mistakes. Please try and avoid her, she is truly the worse.
Class was easy, but there is SO much pointless and repetitive homework. I never even bothered doing it for half the semester.
lots of repetitive homework and its pretty difficult to keep up with.
I dont understand the reason why everyone dislikes her. Please do not listen to what they are saying! Although she does give a lot of homework, she is one of the sweetest professors ever. She is very professional and makes sure that ALL the students understand what is going on. Definitely go to her lectures if you struggle with math like I did!
The class isn't hard, but so much unnecessary homework is assigned. Lecture quizzes every MWF, written homework assignments due every Tuesday/Thursday, MYOPENMATH homework due every MWF, and you are assigned a project every month. The myopenmath can be 10 questions one night, and 35 the next. Super tedious.
She talked down to me almost every single time I answered a question or presented a solution. I wasn't the only one either. She has no filter (she even said this during class) and if you say something or present a problem in a way that she doesn't like, she'll just bully you until you agree with her. AVOID if at all possible. Seriously.
She is exactly like the reviews say she is. She can be very bogus to students when they have questions. One time I asked a question and she literally went off on me for not understanding the problem. She is very rude and assigns so much home work! I had math hw every single night. If you have no other choice you will be okay but pls avoid!
She was nice at the beginning of the semester and I thought the reviews were wrong... but how wrong I was! She gave us plenty of work to do and wasn't considerate with the students on their struggles. I get we're in the pandemic but it doesn't mean that we don't have anything to do! she also does talk down to her students
We were given 7-12 assignments a week. The work consisted of tests on MWF, a bunch of unnecessary review video quizzes, along with written homework and projects. I got off vibes about her the first day when she was rude to a student over connectivity issues. The class is basically shoving all high school math into one semester. Do not recommend!
if you can get an async class i suggest you do that. for an in-person exam she was rude to the TA that just needed help passing out papers and wanted clarification how exactly to do that. That should tell you enough about how she is with students She acts as if we are stealing her time of day and she is also very quick-tempered.
Would be rude to students and sometimes even lash out at the class. Not a supportive teacher at all and prefers critiquing you over helping you improve.
She literally yelled at a student yesterday in class for asking a question, and asked why she would "ask that question at this level". SO unprofessional. Very rude not only in class but even through email when you're just trying to get help in your class. Superiority complex. AVOID!
Absolutely the rudest professor I've ever had. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS. She isn't helpful in the slightest way. She is so condescending if you ask any questions and is rude to all of her students.
I was going to write a good review because she can be nice at times, and her material is helpful. But her demeanor is not professional if you don't understand. Valid questions are criticized and she will make you feel bad for not knowing the answer.
Gives you extra late pass in the end of semester to boost your grades
She MAKES you go up to the board and present so if you are not comfortable with that I wouldn't take the class with her if there are other options, sadly there were no other professors when I was registering for the class. She gives a good amount of homework, no extra credit options. She makes you feel dumb if you don't understand the math.
VERY HORRIBLE!!!!! DO NOT TAKE HER!!! shes rude to students AND the TAs who do all the work for her!!!1 LOADS of homeworks and tests and assignments and the exams were kind of hard. if you struggle in math... goodluck find someone better or at least find a course where you only see the TAs
Awful
Asks students for help b/c she forgets formulas, rules, and makes mistakes almost every class. If she isn't corrected by a student, teaches incorrect information. Condescending, rude, and speaks down to students as if we are idiots. Is not sympathetic to students, repeatedly expresses disappointment/stress caused by students still learning.
Please drop her if you decide to take her. She gives out loads and loads of homework that isn't necessary. She is also quite rude. She makes the math way more complicated then it should be. So if you decide to take her good luck and have fun watching youtube videos on how to do each unit for her class.
its true, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND. Her tests are nothing like the review and she assigns homework almost like everyday. Shes strict on attendance as well. As for discussion days, your worksheet gets graded which has an impact on your attendance and grade in general in that class. Save yourself.
she is horrible and mean. gets mad when the students are absent for being sick but when she gets sick, she misses a whole week!!!!!!
Dr. Kursell is a very average teacher. If you want a more laid-back teacher, I would definitely steer away from her. Her lectures are crammed, and homework is assigned almost every single day, as well as mini-projects and video quizzes. She messes up during the lecture, some kids point out her mistakes (a little scary).
Wouldn't take again. She can be very passive aggressive when someone corrects her and overall pretty rude. Attendance is mandatory and she doesn't really consider your outside problems. Not the best at explaining and goes quick. Understood everything because of my TA.
The worst teacher I have ever studied. She made me hate math itself, even though it was kind of my thing back in high school. Sometimes in class, she even teaches us the wrong things, which really annoying, to say the least. I would not recommend it to any students at all.
rude and condescending. if you need to talk 1 on 1 with her for any reason be prepared to suck up your pride because she will make impolite off-hand remarks. if you go to her office hours with an issue she'll likely help you out but so will literally any other decent professor so we're really talking bare minimum here
Mrs. Kursell cannot teach in any way possible. She has to google formulas/solutions and will sometimes ask the students for help after struggling for almost 5 minutes. Go to the MSLC or ask your TA for help!! She shouldn't have left her computer programming job. I would switch professors if I were you.
Mrs K is great! She gives late passes for MyOpenMath homework which is FREE! She will go over any assignment with you if you ask. I was always asking her. She will ask you what you were thinking and then go over it. If you are afraid to answer direct questions you may be intimidated.
Mrs K helped me out with this class by meeting with me anytime I had questions. I wasn't even in her class! I had a different professor but her office hours worked better. She helped me to understand the math and would draw pictures of unit circles and angles when we got to the trig part.
Mrs K made us present math stuff every single class. It was intimidating at first but then I really liked it. I was afraid to be wrong. Sometimes I would ask her to check my work first. She did sometimes but she tried to encourage me to be ok not knowing and to work through. It was tough but worth it. I feel like I'm ready to be a teacher!
I took math-140 and math-141 and math-105 with professor krusell she was awesome! The syllabus and blackboard were setup good. I knew exactly what to do and when. She give you lecture notes in math-105 and a free textbook and MOM! In math-140 and 141 we had to pay for the textbook and use MyLabMath. I didn't like that. Overall, I had good grades.
This class had a free book and MOm. We were given late passes to do catch up on homework. The projects weren't bad. We used Gradescope which I didn't like so I would give her my project on paper. I liked her teaching style. I mostly kept forgetting to do the homework that's why I didn't get an A.
Took this class first before mat-140. It was a good refresh of geometry. There were a lot of presentations that were hard to do if you forgot the formulas. We used Acadly for attendance but it didn't always work!!!
I took math with Prof Kursell my first year at UIC... now that I have been here a few years and have had a lot of different profs I can honestly say she is one of the best, most caring, most straight-forward professors at this school! & if you are struggling go to her office hours, she will help you!
Professor Kursell was easy to understand and her lectures were interesting. I always felt like she really cared about her students. I never went to her office hours but alot of my friends and they said she was very helpful. I'm done with math but if I had to take another math course here I'd take her again for sure!
No buying a textbook and homework is online but free. Lots of project based homework but she makes it straightforward and easy to follow. Class can vary between hard and easy depending on the material because it covers a lot of different stuff, but also lots of actually useful stuff. She's easy to understand and her lectures are entertaining.
Im only taking her class for the gen's. Today in class she got mad at a student for accidentally having a device out loud. She said "are you done now?" and embarrassed the student infront of everyone. She told a student she shouldn't depend on a TA. Yet she "encurages us to ask questions" and then says "you should know this" when we ask questions
Overall, I enjoyed taking Professor Kursell's class. It's evident that she is a very hardworking educator and cares a lot about her students. There were times when the lectures felt a bit unorganized or frazzled, but I always learned something new every class. She will make sure everyone in the class understands any given topic before moving on.
This class is not that hard as long as you follow along with the Guided Lecture Sheets. She cares for her students and understands that sometimes we will need extensions on webassign and GLS.
This class was a lot of work and I am happy to get out with a B. Kursell was a great professor though and she made things as easy as possible. Highly recommend her if you get a chance.
I would recommend waiting to take this class with another professor, which I wanted to do in the beginning but decided to give her a chance. She'll have you doing work in the different areas every week: WebAssign, Gradescope, and you'll have to print out worksheets. She also makes remarks about students (called one "easily distracted").
Not professional and way too much homework
Not very good at teaching, I need to learn stuff on my own instead of showing us how to do a problem and going over it and showing us the steps and helping us learn she just talks about what things mean and definition there isnt a chance to make us do a problem and learn how to do it from her wouldnt want to take stats class from her again
DO NOT take this professor. She assigns homework in multiple areas every week. Her lectures are an absolute mess - She talks way too much about unimportant topics, HER HANDWRITING IS ATROCIOUS - she goes way too fast, and her notes are extremely wordy. She barely manages to post online lecture sheets and solutions on time. DO NOT TAKE HER.
I've gone to her office hours twice, and both times she got so upset that I didn't understand the material that she just told me to do the work in another room. That is the kind of professor she is. She talks too fast, sometimes would forget the material while doing it in lecture, and does not care about her students.
Not a bad professor, it is definitely lecture heavy so try not to skip many classes. The grading for exams isn't harsh at all. She does get off topic and never finishes the lecture sheets on time but overall decent professor.
She uses paper during lecture, and copy down notes from the screen. Her hand writing is messy, so try to pay attention in case she doesn't go back. In-depth lessons are in the homework which you do on your own time. Her discussions are 2 hours long and attendance is mandatory for both discussions and lecture. She's really nice and funny tho.
She wasn't the best professor but this class is actually easy.All the people saying they had to teach themselves, welcome to college where all Classes you'll mostly be doing your own teaching. Yah the lectures were messy with a lot of homework but the class was easy. It doesn't matter if you take her or not, have a semi decent brain and you get a A
Really good professor, don't let the bad ratings fool you she teaches the class really good and almost everything she talks about in lectures is going to show up in the EXAM just read the ebook it helps alot with learning about the topics.
okay professor she's very kind explains everything. exams are very tough however she is very lenient about extensions. if you do bad on an exam she will offer to replace it with your final score if its better.
She's not a bad professor, she's good at teaching but if you don't understand something and have questions, do not go to her for questions. Despite that she can teach well in the moment, she isn't very nice and makes it difficult to want to approach her for questions. Plus if you do ask her a question, she sort of makes you feel stupid in a way.
Honestly she is one of the best math teachers I've had. She really cares about people and if you're willing to go to her and ask questions, she will solve your problems. Take her if you are looking for a compassionate math teacher!
Horrible teacher, who teaches lectures like they are discussions and wonders why there is no time to finish lecture worksheets. Had to teach myself almost all of the material using the WebAssign homework. Very condescending when questions were asked and was honestly not helpful. Also likes to waste time a lot. Avoid this teacher at all costs!!!!!!!
Kursell is an amazing professor if you ask questions. She does come off with an attitude at first but once you understand her personality and how she likes to teach, she's easy to work with. Lots of homework throughout the semester. Very caring and WILL PUSH BACK DUE DATES. Just show her respect and show interest in the class and she'll return.
If you have the option to take Dale Embers for STAT 130, take him. Professor Kursell is extremely rude and always late to class. She always makes rude comments during lecture or if someone coughs, she looks at them and stops the class. You can tell that she clearly does not have a passion for helping students. She does the most for no reason.
A horrible professor, and I get disappointed that I see she is still teaching at UIC. Not understanding of any situation a student might be under, and I don't think she will ever change. I hope she does though, instead of blaming peoples hatred of math being the reason students are unsuccessful.
She has a lot of attitude and does not really answer questions well. I couldn't imagine going to her office hours mostly because of her attitude. Most times when a question is asked a sarcastic response is often given and sometimes the actual question isn't even answered. She also expects us to know everything when she is supposed to be teaching.
Take Dale Embers she is literally late to every single class (yes even on exam days, no you get no extra time because of her lateness) and constantly has an attitude with students.
Worst professor
Professor Kursell was a kind professor but makes remarks to students that ask questions during class and will make you feel stupid then not explain nor answer your question. Her exams are difficult and the way she structures them are confusing. Do not take this professor much rather take it online and save yourself time or with anyone else but her.
She had a constant attitude with students and was very passive aggressive when you ask questions. I would recommend taking it with another professor.
Class wasn't really difficult but this professor is horrible and grades very harsh. Seemed uninterested in helping students and lectures were all over the place.
She is very kind but would mess up at times in class, and had students to correct her, I had to rely on the MSLC to teach me the pre-calculus content.
She's nice, but her class feels slow and boring. Homework is due three times a week, and she recommends a $30 book that's used in class. Discussions are are 2 hours long, with a quiz. The quizzes are tougher than what we cover and they count for 10% of the grade, and cover last week's material, which makes it hard to keep up. Don't take her
Don't sit in back with the slackers. Lots of leaving early to catch buses and trains. Kind of roudy. She gets off topic but good overall.
Easy A. Homework was easy if you use the lecture notes. She made copies. Tests were in class and not at night which is a plus. Responded to all my emails. I don't know why all the hate, must be the dumb students. Class was easy do all the homework.
I had a hard time in hs with this class. She cleared up alot. The class was loud at times but she would talk to me after class. She would open assignments too and even email solutions to questions I didnt' get. Good teacher.
Good, helped me with factoring.
Took this class over the summer and it was rough but she was organized. Participation was doing Jamboard. Small class.
you'll literally learn nothing, if she sees you talking, she says "you guys can do the rest of the notes since ur busy talking." She doesn't know most of the math herself, and asks her students how to solve a problem, and makes them explain it to her multiple times. she's really rude to students and makes them feel bad when they get answers wrong
Maybe some pressors should spend more time teaching and less time writing fake good reviews for themselves all coincidentally on the same day.
everything is disorganized. sometimes worksheets are different from what she has. would rarely talk about concepts beyond what was given in a problem. procedural solving without actually breaking stuff downl. at this point, at least, the class gives a syllabus and homework to practice what you teach yourself.
The discussion worksheets and quizzes were the worst part of this class they are much more difficult that the actual exams. She is great at explaining problems and lectures well you just got to pay attention.
She's passionate about the subject, but success depends on self-teaching. Her explanations sometimes clarify concepts, but other times they may confuse you more. Stay prepared for pop quizzes and rely on the textbook for understanding. Balancing self-study with her guidance is key to doing well in the class.
Attend lectures. Skipping lectures will keep you behind since we go through so much content in one class. She has lectures recorded incase you miss it. Can be a bit sassy at times but is very open to giving help and one on one tutoring. Only 2 midterms and one final. So if you do bad on one midterm it's possible it'll be hard to raise your grade up
The professor was rude and condescending to students. Sometimes, she would seem to care about us succeeding in her class, and the next, she would act like she didn't want to be there teaching us. In my opinion, the learning environment wasn't good and it wasn't an enjoyable class. She also gives quite a lot of homework and weekly quizzes.
This professor was very difficult to follow and the lectures felt pointless at times. She can be so passive aggressive and rude towards students that are participating but then she would make calculation errors herself. I feel like I only did well in the class because I had prior knowledge. I would recommend switching your professor.
I took her last semester and honestly save yourself the money and drop her while you can. She was extremely passive aggressive even during office hours. She had an attitude when youd ask any questions
Rude, condescending, and many times contradicted herself during lessons when explaining formulas resulting in students consistently having to correct her. On top of this, during office hours she was extremely patronizing and uncivil, I ended up filing a complaint with my advisor at UIC. I would go into detail more but there is a 350 word limit.
Look at the good reviews, they only discuss issues with the class such as being "rowdy," or commend her for helping with basic issues. Many of these reviews were written on the same day, 11/16/24, she is writing these fake reviews. One of these reviews she even calls the low rated reviewers dumb, so embarrassing for her especially at her age.
Don't let the good ratings fool you. I'm pretty sure she's the one writing them lol. She's always got an attitude, and her teaching isn't great. All she does in lectures is copy the notes from previous lectures onto new sheets and just reads off of them.
She has an EXTREMELY condescending way of speaking. Treats us like we're children. Honestly save your money and your time. One of the worst UIC professors. The fact that shes writing herself good reviews should tell you everything
I actually really liked her class and it's really surprising because I was never good at anything math related. She explains everything really well and I'll definitely take her again.
I had Professor Kursell for Math 121 last semester. She was really sweet to my friends and I. She would explain stuff really well to us and was always asking if we had any questions. She sometimes had an attitude and seemed a bit condescending, however, she is a good professor overall. The class was somewhat difficult for me, but I ended with a B.
I took Stat101 with prof. kursell, and it was an asynchronous online course. Prof. Kursell was great at making herself available and would respond to any questions quickly through email. Easy A as long as you keep up and pay attention. Idk why so much hate, but she seems to be understanding towards students which i appreciate.
Professor uses other lectures from other instructors. Doesn't reply to emails and has so many assignments due every Sunday despite having an exam the same week. I do not recommend her for asynch Stat 101 because her discussion boards are also from 2020!! 5 years ago! she does not update them nor look at responses with meaning. Uses acrobatiq.
This lady would show up AT LEAST ten minutes late to EVERY class, then she would have the audacity to get snarky with us. Horrible
Shes not a bad prof. She would show up 10 minutes late most classes with no notice and if she cancelled, she would do it 10 min before class started so if its your only class of the day oh well waste of commute. Its alot of material so go to lecture. You can miss 9 but then you have to catch up with the lecture notes. She can be condescending.
Professor Kursell can seem a bit condescending, but she means well and is actually nice. My experience with her was positive. The class is easy if you pay attention—you should get an A. The discussion quizzes were a bit tough, but they were open note with two tries, so it's manageable.
Enjoyed the class, there was lots of homework with an assignment due usually everyday. Homework and quiz all had multiple attempts, and she was always available during office hours to explain any confusing material. Very fair professor and kind.
The professor had good ways to explain statistics very well. The lectures were good, but there was plenty of homework. The quizzes were quite difficult, and the discussions were a bit too redundant, but I assume it's not the professor's fault.
All these good reviews you see about her, I am willing to bet my life she has at the minimum, written half of them. Condescending, inconsiderate of students' time, and an extreme lack of detail when giving lectures, steer clear from this "professor." Her horrid quality of teaching is disrespectful to UIC and its students.
I would make an effort to go to her office hours and she would get snappy whenever I asked a question. Shes one of those professors who gets mad when students have trouble understanding something…. you're a professor for a reason…
It's lying, not lieing.
Everyone exaggerating she is not that bad…. Yes the course is a lot of material but it's not even that hard as long as you go to lecture and actually pay attention you're good. She can be a little fast when teaching the material but she actually explains it well. She does seem a bit annoyed when someone asks a question but honestly I expected worse
She has a horrible attitude. But the material was very easy to understand. All you have to do is attend the lecture, follow the notes, and participate in the discussion and quiz. You definitely need the textbook, she said, it's possible without it, but it's almost impossible to follow the lecture without it.
the material itself is not bad and test are easy if you study. However, we are assigned homework that we haven't even covered during lecture, provided lecture notes to follow along but with so many typos and definitions heavy to the point it is hard to understand, she does have an attitude and doesn't take criticism, mostly have to teach yourself.
the way she explained and went through the lecture were extremely detailed, super clear, and easy to take note. As long as you come to class, do alongside with what she is doing, listen to what she said, and review the guidance she gave, you'll get an A!
she's not the worst professor, but her classes structure is messy in my opinion. lots of quizzes, discussion sheets and homework, but i think that the discussion sheets are the most useful form of learning the material. you do have to pay for an online website which is roughly 100 bucks.
She was a good professor; she taught well; however, at times, she would go faster or slower, and sometimes the discussion class worksheets would not correlate with what we were doing in lecture. Overall, the material is not difficult, but you must practice to achieve a good grade. There is a workbook that accompanies the class so I recommend buying
she teaches well, but is so unorganized on blackboard; i had to keep reminding her to post certain assignments as she would forget. has a really bad attitude, gives snarky responses when someone asks for help/clarification regardless of this being an intro class. would not recommend taking a class with her.
not that bad
Honestly just save yourself time and take this at a community college instead. idk why she did sm for a 101 class.
Lectures should genuinely not be mandatory, as she takes forever to cover material. My discussion section was constantly ahead and relied on our amazing TA to catch us up. Just show up outside her class to do the attendance, then leave. You're better off studying the lecture notes she posts. Plus, she has a terrible attitude.
Kursell was a good professor. She made her teachings very clear during the lectures and most of her material was on the tests. She uploads her lectures online so you can watch to review for the midterms. Homework was the only issue for this class. There is a good amount of homework and a project each month. The projects weren't bad though.
whenever a student would ask a question she was very snarky and condescending with her answer. you would basically have to do the homework before she covered it in class which was annoying, and makes what could be an easier class very hard.
The course is organized and has a fast pace. There are frequent assignments, often due daily. Lectures cover material quickly. Study guides align with exams, while the final exam is more comprehensive than earlier tests. Online homework is included as part of the course requirements.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
91%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.43 avg changeRatings by Course
STAT130
4.0
(2)MATH141
3.0
(7)MATH105
2.7
(15)MATH121
2.6
(17)STAT101
2.6
(43)Difficulty by Course
MATH120
4.5
MATH121
3.4
MATH118
3.4
MATH141
3.3
STAT101
3.3