2.2
Quality3.9
Difficulty32%
Would Retake145
Reviews32%
Would Retake
145
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
17
4
15
3
20
2
35
1
58
What Students Say
“One of the worst teachers I have had at USC”
MATH126 - 1.0 rating“Not bad person, but I would explain calculus II differently”
MATH126 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
27%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.27 avg changeRatings by Course
118A
5.0
(1)MATH265
4.0
(1)MATH225
3.3
(6)MATH126
3.1
(11)MATH425A
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
CACULUS118
5.0
BUAD118
5.0
CALCBUS
5.0
MATH425A
5.0
MATH458
4.5
Reviews (145)
somewhat easy, goes very FAST
she's ridiculous. she takes 3/4 of the class period explaining thereoms instead of doing practice problems. her tests are completely unfair and don't reflect what you go over in class. dont even both going to class... it wont help.
The way her course was structured didn't give a lot of room for interaction with Haskell. Her lectures were rushed, so any questions that I had I had to ask the TA, who was great. That said, she did answer any questions raised in class very nicely.
No Comments
She teaches at an extremely fast rate and does not account for the fact that some students have not taken calculus before. Basically the student teaches themself the material.
Unless you took calculus before, her class can easily kill you. i personally took calc like, 3 times before, so i was okay...but all of my friends got literally killed by her midterms and what not. one good thing? our class freakin aced common finals, cuz our homework is harder than other classes' midterms!
She didn't do a very good job explaining anything and her methods did nothing but confuse her students more than actually help them to learn anything. She also didn't do a good job answering questions raised in class.
She goes really fast and always thinks she is behind, which makes her teach faster. She will skip a lot of steps that she assumes students know when they dont. take someone else.
I have previously taken calculus and this class was very difficult. haskell attempts to teach but is terrible at it. She does not check for understanding. She knows her class is difficult and even says so in emails and in lecture, yet she is terrible at teaching. I would recommend taking 118 from another one of USC's "great" professors.
Honestly, she is probably the worst teacher I have ever had. She's not really mean, just a bad teacher. The only thing that saves you in this class is the curve, or if you're just a pure math genius. If not, I would highly suggest you take someone else.
Despite the many negative comments that Prof. Haskell apparently receives, she is actually a pretty good professor. She may teach some concepts very quickly, but she gives great examples to back up her claims. All in all, she was a really good teacher.
Wastes a lot of time explaining things that do not really matter. Once you learn to cut through all that the class is easy. For people who say the class goes fast, they try to memorize everything she says instead of doing this. Use the book to get the important stuff
Professor Haskell isn't the best teacher, but from all the 118 teachers, she's the one who will best prepare you for the finals. Her midterms can be difficult if you don't study. Quizzes are somewhat difficult but it depends on how your TA grades. She gives good examples on how to do problems, but she explains WAY too fast. Her class isn't great, b
She is one of the worst professors i have ever had in my entire college education. I personally got an A but i worked so hard for it!!! I had 3 tutors and i still struggled. I advise anybody to seriously take this class at smc or another junior college. or use JEP it was sooo worth it, honestly.
Very annoying to listen to and understand.
She is not a very good calc teacher at all. I took calc in high school and she actually confused me on information I once knew. She teaches way too much in theoretical ways that are incredibly confusing. She gives weekly quizzes that are frequently unrelated to what has been taught, and the matlab projects are absurdly difficult.
She is not clear and therefore makes class harder than it should be. She doesn't use many examples. Discussion isn't any better: TA doesn't explain anything
Lectures were fairly hard to keep up with, but there is a lot of material to cover in such a short period of time. Her tests and quizzes are difficult and do require studying for, but if you go to her office hours she is very helpful and eager to help.
First I must say she is very clear about the materials and she is VERY nice. She teaches fast, so follow her pace in class. She uses many examples. Weekly quizzes r not easy but not that hard. TA is a funny and nice guy but didnt help that much. Only bad thing is matlab - ridiculously HARD but also no one get full pnts either so dont worry.
STAY AWAY! Do not take stats from this woman. She spends months on "counting techniques" and treats you like an idiot, but then she gives decently difficult tests. Also, she doesn't prepare you for the common final very well at all.
terrible at explaining concepts, my last calc teacher explained things so well and I understood it and did great, Cymra is a mess and explains poorly and haphazardly. She really makes it harder then it needs to be. TA was not too helpful and quizzes were way easier than exams which is not helpful. Prof is a nice lady though
Though nice her lectures are incredibly fast-paced and she doesn't explain concepts well at all. Way too verbose and does not make calc accessible to most students. I did great in high school (2 years of calc). Matlab is the WORST THING EVER. All cuz "a few engineers in the class should know it"
very unclear and the tests are ridiculously hard, don't take
OK at explaining concepts, but by the end of the semester the class was behind so she had to go more quickly and the class got harder, and I know some classes went a lot faster and had more time to prepare for the final. I had never taken calc before but did fine, though I had to read the book for some sections.
I guess I can thank my super hard and expensive High school...I got an A in math 125 only due to my high school background. Haskell is TERRIBLE and makes you do MATLAB assignments and reports which other Math125 sections don't do. Tests are ok just variations of quizzes & lecture problems. Stay away if you don't want to be challenged in calculus.
I took Calculus in high school and was pretty good at it. However, after entering her class she made fundamental, easy ideas seem really difficult. Her explanations were lengthy and complicated when they didn't need to be. Moreover, she made us take matlab which other 125 sections didn't even do. The only way I got an A- was prior knowledge.
Professor was really nice and agreeable. She obviously really cares about her students even though she doesn't really consider that we have lives outside of class (double homework over spring break?!) but her tests are easy and exactly the same as the review sheets. She is overly verbose though and has a tendency of overcomplicating easy topics.
Very difficult class
While she is nice, she has no idea about how to teach a class. She breaks everything down into fundamentals and takes 30 minutes explaining something obvious and by the time she says it is obvious, you're more confused than when you started. Not to mention her powerpoints are useless. DO NOT TAKE HER CLASS. If you have to, take it pass/fail.
Very difficult class even if you've already taken calc 1 before. She is very confusing and hard to understand. The tests are very difficult in this class and so are the weekly quizzes. The TA teaches better than the actual professor. The structure of the class makes it very difficult to get an A.
She's quite nice, but is terrible at explaining concepts and tests are exceptionally hard (except for the Final). The saving grace for the course was that the TA was informative (much more so than the professor) and the Final Exam is the same as other professors (and as a result comparatively easier than our other tests).
She's a nice lady but her teaching style has no place on this planet. She trys to teach math with power point presentations that have NOTHING BUT WORDS ON IT. She hardly does anything but read directly from her slides and over-complicates things. I don't know about you, but I need numbers when learning math.
If you have ever considered registering her class, read the following. A math major with 3.9 GPA struggled in her class, and had no understanding of her lectures. She didn't explain anything in lecture, rather she just wrote down her notes to the board. one thing can make you do well in her class: study at least 20 hrs/week for this single class
Prof Haskell is an excellent teacher who genuinely cares about her students and puts great effort into preparing for class.
Professor Haskell is very nice. She tries her best to make students understand. She is always concerned. She is patient and happily to answer all your questions. From her class, I improved a lot to think rigorously and logically. She makes me start to love analysis.
Cymra is a terrible professor. She doesn't communicate with her TA's and always changes her office hours. Good luck getting help in this class. Her tests are made up of material that was never covered, in a totally different style than her worksheets. I have emailed her a couple of times and her responses are unhelpful and not personable.
dont take this class. waste of time. no feedback on work.
By far one of the worst teachers I have ever had. She made the material way more confusing than it needed to be and was extremely unhelpful and condescending.
Complicates everything. Nothing too terrible if you can teach yourself by looking at the book when you do your homework. Then again, I am decent at math
WARNING WARNING DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS!!!! she is the WORST at explaining, never does any examples in class, its all theory and no examples and then she expects you to know how to do the homework, she is NOT a good teacher, she complicates material that I am sure I would've understood if i had had a different teacher, PLEASE DONT DO IT
WARNING: DO NOT TAKE HER! she is by far the worst professor ever. Math has always been such a great part in my life but she defiantly helped me loose interest in anything math related. She writes and writes in the board with out explaining the concept, does not show in depth examples, and has no sympathy for her students.
Waste of time. No feedback. Painful to listen to her over-complicate things.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS YOU. She will first explain any sort of problem in the most difficult manner possible then continue to make your life terrible by giving you quizzes on things you do not know because she has never taught it to you. She assumes everyone is passing while most of the class is scraping by. Do not take this class with her. Do not!
If you have questions, you can always go to her office hours. Missing class is NOT a good idea. She doesn't use the textbook and goes over the notes in class - if you skip a class, make sure you get the notes from someone else. She's such a sweet lady but she's not always entertaining. Midterms are tough, again, missing class is not a good idea.
Her lecture is really unhelpful and boring.
There's a lot of material, so it'll definitely require a little work, but it's more than easily doable. Cymra also has a habit of sometimes being a little confusing during lecture, but she's always willing to clarify and was very willing to work with students to find test datesetc. that worked for everyone. This was my favorite class at SC.
She's a very nice lady and will give you help if you ask, its just that she is not a good teacher. The lectures are confusing and boring and don't follow the order of the book. In discussion she assigns problems that are 10x harder than the examples from class. The only thing keeping my grade afloat is the cheat sheet allowed on exams.
Her lectures were confusing at times because she always introduced the math theories behind every new concept but none of these were tested. The material itself was not too hard and she is MORE than willing to help if you go into her office hours. People are too harsh on her; it was a decent class. Tests are pretty straightforward too.
Really not helpful. When the book is more clear than your teacher, you know something is wrong. The book got me help but I still had to drop and take it again over the summer. Horrible teacher. Good person, but horrible teacher.
One of the worst teachers I have had at USC. Very absent minded professor, in that she lectures without attempting to explain the content in a digestible way. Also, she can be incredibly testy and mean. If she decides she doesn't like you, you're going to have a miserable semester. Just don't question her on anything and you'll be fine.
I would not recommend. Makes concepts confusing and gives hard tests. Doesn't really prepare for the final.
Not bad person, but I would explain calculus II differently. If you took AP calculus you should be fine, but just to compare she spends days explaining something that is literally an equation -like surface area of a solid of revolution. Hard to keep track of what is going on and things could be broken down much easier. Prob not the best teacher
Tests were exceptionally challenging. Lectures were not very helpful and the distribution of time on topics was very lopsided. Also, if she doesn't like you, you'll have a hard time. I would recommend you pick another professor.
She is a good professor in terms of lecturing and her tests are much easier than the hw and discussion worksheets. You do learn extra things in the hw and discussion, which is not on the test, but the hw and discussion worksheets do impact your grade, so you have to put in the work. The class notes/examples are good practice for exams!
Not clear when she teaches. Makes things more confusing than they need to be.
Exams are pretty hard and shes not a good teacher
One of the poorest Calculus teachers I have had, overcomplicates the material when it is actually quite simple. I would steer clear and search for a better 118 professor
Not a great teacher, nice personality. She seems like a nice person but will spend far more time explaining a concept that could be sufficiently explained by just giving the equation... better professors in the math dept
Most of lecture material isn't relevant for tests, they just give a better understanding of how calculus works. You need to fully understand the worksheet and lecture problems for the midterms. She goes at a slower pace than other professors which means she doesn't use class time to review for the final.
Having not taken a math class in two years, this class was pretty rough. She's really smart but at times can't explain things well--she'll cover some things very slow, then speed up like crazy through tough theoretical concepts. Pretty fair in terms of lecture material being on the tests, but you'll have to work hard. Don't recommend this class.
Let me start by saying she is by no means an easy professor. NONE of her classes should be taken if you want an easy A. She is often hard to contact outside office hours, but if you can attend her office hours or track her down to make an appointment, she is genuinely helpful and kind. Harsh grader though, and often assigns difficult group work.
She's really a good teacher. I have take her class for two consecutive semesters both 225 and 407. So far so good.
In general, not a difficult class.
This class is extremely hard and final is even harder. Don't trust the guy who rated 5.0 on this class. I knew he participated International Mathematical Olympiad in middle school.
The subject is interesting but Prof Haskell makes all the lectures extremely confusing. Bad at explaining examples and often makes mistakes herself while she's lecturing so it seems like she doesn't understand the material. Tests were WAY harder than practice tests given and she definitely doesn't give enough time. Would avoid if possible.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS EVER. she is a good person but a very bad bad teacher. 10/10 do not recommend if you want to do well. Exams are very hard and not enough time given. Tough grader.
Exams were very difficult. The problems of exams were far from HW problems or practice exams. She is a nice person, but not a good teacher. Attendance to discussion is mandatory.
She is a responsible professor. If you try hard and do all the practice exams and HW, you will be fine.
I had extremely low expectations based on her rating, but I enjoyed her course. Cymra is a caring professor and if you work hard she will respect you. Sometimes she can be condescending, but in general her class is manageable if you show up. Tests are fair and based off of practice exams.
She is a very bad lecturer, because she doesn't explain well. I often went to office hours, but for most of those visits, I sat there doing guess work, while she explained the concept in the same way again. Group discussions are the best part of class. If you've never taken CALC 2 before, or bad at math, find a smart friend in class to work with.
She is not a good teacher at all and doesn't teach concepts well. She wastes time on easy stuff and runs through the hard concepts. You would have to work a lot to get a good grade. Avoid at all costs.
Best professor every in USC Math department.
Super nice! Easy A in this class! She has a handout for each class and is so clear about what is going on. The class is easy to be a focus on. If you do not go to class, you can ask your friends to get the handout and learn!
Really focused on students' math abilities rather than test abilities and provided lecture handouts for each new concept.
Best professor every in USC Math department. Only after you take classes from another professor in USC MATH department, you can realize how nice she is!!!!!!!
One of the worst professors in this school. No textbook, only a workbook. Inpatient will get frustrated when you do not understand. Not for vulnerable students at all. I hired a tutor for homework help (Ph.D. in stats tutor) and even he still struggled with the assignment. I went to all her office hours every week, and was still not helpful. AVOID!
I read these reviews and honestly, she is not that bad. I wonder if other people on here had fields medal winners as math teachers in the past. She isn't the best teacher, but certainly isn't awful. She honestly is a nice person who wants you to do well. Curve is pretty large for the tests. Do the study guide. They're the same as the tests.
I had a pretty good experience in this class. It can be pretty confusing/stressful at first but once you get a hang of the format it was manageable. She honestly tries her best to be there for her students and is easy to get help from out of class (although I didn't really utilize it). I got an A but I had to work for it.
Prof Haskell is a nice math teacher and loves it, but not a good teacher. Explanations are often ambiguous and makes mistakes when explaining. Doesn't know how to explain something differently than her way. Take her class if you have previous experience and understand stats. Bad teacher for a first time stats taker. Need to teach yourself. 2exams
Avoid. She cannot teach. She gives so much hw and does not review what she assigns. Many times she cannot even figure out the hw herself and expects you to to know it, as well as grades it on accuracy. She also does not reply to emails whatsoever. She is very nice, but not competent at explaining concepts. Class does not go by syllabus.
She is a nice person and I wanted to like her, but her teaching style was a big disappointment. Her lecture examples make you feel like you have a decent understanding, then the tests come around and slap you. She doesn't explain the harder concepts well. I had trouble on the hw and she wasn't able to explain some problems she had assigned.
Professor Haskell is a very sweet person but class is challenging. I am sitting at a B+ but had to work extremely hard for it. Homework is graded on accuracy and there is a lot of it (online and written). GO to the lectures because they are very helpful with lots of examples. Tests are hard but there are study guides. Good class and learned a lot.
I don't think she even knows what statistics is. So scattered and cannot explain anything to save her life. Easy A if you go to the TA office hours, but don't expect her to teach you anything.
Lecture everyday, Daily Quizzes, Weekly Homeworks, 2 midterms and a final. Was not considerate considering we are 100% online learning, very easy to get burnout as she expects us to spends hours on the class each day. She also only teaches using examples, which is hard to learn from and follow since she doesn't explain the process before hand.
3 long hard quizzes every wk, long weekly hw, reads of her notes in lecture (which are a worse rehash of the wikipedia/textbook, cancels her OH because she's too busy/forgets from her email replies, and gives projects late leaving little time to consult TAs/her. Absolute nightmare, worst professor ever and I've done 7 Math400 classes before hers.
3 long hard quizzes and hw every week, reads off notes in lecture which are a worse rehash of the wikipedia/textbook, cancels OH because she's too busy/forgets, gives projects late leaving little time to consult TA/her, wrote midterm problem wrong and was shocked why we did so poorly, gives problems in exams without covering concepts in class.
three quizzes plus one hw per week. Quiz takes 10min-1hr, and hw takes 5hr-15hr. She's too smart to understand student's hardship. Lectures are abstract, few specific examples, but hw and quizzes are applications, so prepare to teach yourself what you need to learn. Exams are hard, unreasonable workload. Her expectations are just rediculous
Spent a class reviewing our midterm (average 55%), she found out midway through solving a problem that she wrote it wrong. She did not do anything about it. Assigns so much work (3 quizzes + hw weekly) but rarely assigns us anything on time, leaving us scrambling to finish. Said making a practice exam is too hard. Often forgets her office hours.
If I could give a 0 I would. Don't let her Stanford degree fool you, Prof Cymra is incapable of teaching. She often forgets her office hours, makes mistakes on the wording of midterms and does nothing about it, can't solve assigned HW problems BUT THEN GRADES US ON THEM, and is oblivious to how horrendous her teaching is. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!!!!
I took Professor Haskell for my first semester of college during the pandemic and wasn't overwhelmed by her performance. She only teaches through examples and sometimes has difficulty teaching online. There is a quiz every class and the 3 tests are pretty reflective of the material learned. I would take her again but as a backup choice.
Gets a bad rep but as long as you pay attention in lectures and try on the quizzes you'll do fine. The lectures are almost 100% example-based so only take if that is a good way of learning for you. I thought the tests were pretty straightforward if you followed along with quizzes and hw all semester. Heavy workload but she's super understanding imo
She is understanding and very caring but there is too much work to do just for this class. Quizzes after every lecture, weekly long homework and 3 exams per semester.
I already took stats so easy A. BUT if you haven't you WILL FAIL. She doesn't teach at all. If you have to take her, discussions are the most helpful. I loose brain cells during lecture. Homework takes a ridiculously long time not because its hard but because its repetitive. Not available for tutoring because she 'forgets' office hours 3x a week.
This professor's teaching style is to read off of notes. After each lecture, there was a hard quiz with content sometimes far beyond the scope of the lecture. She gives long homeworks & unreasonably difficult, long exams. She also takes forever to grade them. We didn't receive feedback on our projects for a month and a half - well after our final.
I had a horrible experience with this professor. I thought the class would get better after the first week, but it didn't. So, I dropped it. She makes things overly complicated and doesn't even explain things well. A ton of weekly homework too.
She cant really explain things. Homework is really long and most of us work in groups. Literature papers are pretty abstract and I didnt understand any of it... if youre good at making BS that lasts for 20 minutes then this class is for you. No final exam just group projects which is really just luck on who you get stuck with. I should have drop
Terrible class with quizzes every week. Spends lectures talking nonsense. Worst 400 math teacher I've had to date, and I've had most. Don't take this if you care about your free time.
The worst math teacher I've ever had. All she does is read off the slides and terminology, and doesn't go through problems. The HW makes no sense and there is a lot of it every week. Everyone is confused and stats shouldn't be this difficult to understand, avoid taking stats with her. She also is rly rude whenever people ask her questions.
As someone who struggles with math, this professor is not helpful at all. She rarely gives helpful answers to questions and rushes through her slides, not that they're helpful anyway. $80 for a book we don't use just for homework, which there's a lot of. Discussions taught me the most, only because I had a good TA. I dropped the class mid semester.
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS! Save yourself the stress. Not helpful at all.
She doesn't explain, not flexible with explaining grades. Homeworks are nothing compared with lectures. If you can choose a different professor please do so.
No explaining at all. She wants us to learn everything by our own, and there is not explanation. There is an expectation to learn everything by just example, and she never mentions the process. As soon as I saw her inability to teach I drop the class.
Prof. Haskell spend time every class to recap the info from the last class, which is very helpful. The learning style is example-based. Grades heavily depend on homework instead of tests/finals. The workload is kind of heavy but not overwhelming, once you get a hang of the routine it gets easier. A good TA and use of the math center help a lot.
Did not like this course at all. Prof Haskell is a nice person but she does not understand that this is an introductory course. Homeworks take forever to do and you have to be super precise to get full credit. No feedback either. Prof goes over the material WAY too fast. Choose another professor if you can
Really good professor.
My TAs office hours and willingness to reteach in discussions plus this being the second time Ive took stats (once in hs) is the only way I got the grade I did. If you find a tutor and are willing to spend lots of time TO TEACH YOURSELF and being super PRECISE ON HW, go for it. Otherwise AVOID HER. Even with our ta most dropped or made p/np.
This professor teaches very poorly, only reason why im doing fine is because of discussion
Expects you to understand the concepts asap so you quickly fall behind. Grading makes no sense and she makes no time to talk to her students about grades. I have emailed her several times and she responds to none of them. Communication between her and her TAs is awful, so she will tell you one thing while your TA tells you another. Do not take!!!!!
All concepts are learned straight through examples, no real foundation is given in terms of learning properly the concepts as directly we are given real world problems to solve. The class is much harder than it should be, and it is extremely hard to learn the concepts.
Do not ever take her class.
Too much notes in lectures to take. No time for comprehension. MT too long, 11 questions including two long and hard problems in 50 min.
Prof. Haskell tries her best but struggles to explain concepts a lot of the time. She steams ahead through content without ever really reviewing previous concepts -- neither midterm we had review days. It should be an intro course -- it isn't. My TA tried his best, but the disconnect b/t TAs and her is appalling. Do not take.
Taking back my 2 star rating bc I fear it was too generous. This class was the most frustrating experience of my undergrad career. Concepts were poorly explained, expectations were extremely unclear, and the material was overly tedious and difficult to conceptualize. Avoid at all costs.
Prof. Haskell is a great professor, but this class is insanely hard. I met with my tutor for 4 hours per week and still found it extremely difficult. However, if you pay attention in lecture and go to office hours, you will pass.
This was an AWFUL class. Each midterm counts for 20% of your grade, and the final counts for 40%. I got sick for the second midterm and she just tacked on the percentage to my final, making my final worth 60% of my final grade. She does not care about her students, and gives WAY too much homework each week. I would not recommend this class.
she is a decent human being; her teaching is bad. the way she explains things is very convoluted + when asked for clarification it just gets more confusing. homework every week, discussion worksheets during section, and two midterms + one final. try and do every assignment/extra credit possible bc it'll help your grade a lot if your tests are bad.
Prof Haskell is a pretty decent 400-level math prof. Expect weekly homework (not crazy long). The exams have excessively-long study sheets (2 pages of bullet-pointed proofs/topics to know) and the tests themselves were pretty long, but there's some curve. Not a bad class (pretty theory based, small intro to Matlab)
horrible course. notes and content don't reflect assignments. you have so many assignments but they ultimately don't have weight on your final grade. grade is only determined by tests and the assignment can give you a 5% boost. horrible.
Since I took this class on Spring 2021 semester, if you actually have a very strong math experience or math prodigy, then this class is not quite hard. Math homeworks are intuitive. She is also accessible. Just read it from the textbook earlier before lectures.
In terms of structure, the class is very straightforward but the material is not what you'd expect from a typical CALC I class. You have to go to lectures (or watch them online) and go to your discussions to do the worksheets if you want to do well in this class. She sometimes fails to explain things clearly so you need to really pay attention.
Absurdly difficult. Around 55 worksheets and online assignments. These don't count toward your grade, they took weight off exams. But our final grade is only based on the three exams? No one understood the grading. Concepts are explained so poorly, students stopped asking questions because we would end up even more confused. Avoid for your sanity
The final exam was abysmal. The previous finals used for studying paled in comparison to what problems were present on this one. It was way more complicated and complex than what we've seen from the lectures, worksheets and online hw. Not even enough time to finish. Plus, the exam took place on the day I needed to move out, so studying was a mess.
Professor Haskell is one of the worst professors in the math department and that is really saying something. She is completely unhelpful and very inconsistent. She does not care about her students at all, and seems to actually try to make their lives more difficult. Multiple friends who have had her say the same thing. Do not take her classes.
By far the worst ever teacher I've had in the past 14 years of my education. She doesn't know what she's teaching and has literally refused to answer questions in class. The homework is not hard, but takes awhile and is also unrelated to test content most of the time. There is some extra credit and a curve at the end of the year, but it's hard.
She made things easy. The weekly homework does take up some time, but I went to lecture completely on zoom and still understood the material. She gives you extra credit opps for every exam and answers questions if you ask before/after class or email. She posts practice exams before the tests that are helpful--if you know that info you'll do well.
Good teacher-very kind. She WANTS you to do well. She sometimes does not explain things fully in depth, but other than that, her tests are straighf orward and she will prepare you well. You have to study to pass; its not too difficult to do well in this class.
worst math teach I had, very unhelpful, the exam is exceptionally hard. Avoid.
AWFUL, AVOID! Horrible at explaining the concepts (teaches them as if you already know, so she skims over so many important steps leaving you confused. Students who excelled only did so because they already knew the content. Hard to reach, office hours useless. NO CURVE!!! She refuses to. Take Jared Warner instead for 118!
Professor Cymra is a very warmhearted and kind individual. Always smiling and pleasant! However, she struggles a lot to explain concepts in a clear, concise, non-convoluted manner. Often unusual for professors in universities of this caliber, let alone math professors, this leads to hard to follow lectures and hence verydifficult homeworks/exams.
Calc2 is a weed out class. 90% of your grade is tests. I went into the first midterm thinking it would be similar to calc1, but it was harder. More things to remember. Go to lectures, and ask questions on HW/WS that you don't understand. Most of the points I missed were questions I got wrong in the HW and WS. WS are optional, but tough.OK Curve
Professor Haskell is very kind and is very open to helping you if YOU make the effort. She is an ok professor overall. She skips important details in lectures which can lead to a lot of "where did that come from?" moments. Calc II is a tough class. Go to lectures, do the homework, DO THE WORKSHEETS, and get help early on if you need it.
Some explanations are confusing but if you make the effort, it will be fine. DO THE WORKSHEETS. It's pretty much the only way to get an A even if you do well on all the exams.
The professor wants you to succeed, but the class is no easy feat. Attend lectures, use the textbook, and try Unstuck AI - it really helped with study prep. Overall, a challenging but manageable course if you put in the work.
She's just a terrible professor who doesn't teach well and who gives extremely difficult exams. Nothing much to it.
Honestly, 458 is just a hard class regardless of the prof. Her exams are hard and she covers a TON of content in a short period of time. i'd recommend reviewing lecture notes every day bc the HWs are useless. looking back, i'd take her again and just accept the fact that 458 is hard
Explained things fantastically with helpful note sheets.
Really hard class, the teaching didn't make it any easier. Not super organized or accessible out of class. Proof heavy and felt like the teaching and homeworks didn't get us ready for the tests. Provides notes for you to fill in, but didn't explain concepts for you to understand them deeply.
Math458 is the toughest course I've ever taken. Professor Haskell covers numerous, somewhat disconnected topics. Her explanations can be unclear at times, but she generally gets the job done. Preparing for exams demands extensive studying—I had to watch the recordings twice to understand the gist.
Fantastic professor. Honestly don't know why the rating is so low. Her notes are incredibly organized and helpful. Tests are honestly not too hard. Taking her again for Calc 3!!
Study the notes extensively. Questions come out of the fill in notes.
Truly the worst teacher I've ever had in my entire high school and college career. I cried multiple times a day and she never tried to help when I came for office hours. I'd rather switch majors than have to take her again. I don't know how she is still employed at this school
DO NOT take this class if you care about your GPA. Prof Haskell provides poor explanations and teaches more proofs than actual application questions. Her tests come straight out of her notes & worksheets, but she does a poor job at preparing you for the final that all 226 students have to take.
Grade system is poorly designed and at the end you needed 96% for an A
I strongly disagree with her low rating. Yes, this class is hard, but overall the grading system is beneficial to you. If you make an effort to study outside of class and ask questions, it is absolutely doable. Go to office hours and ask questions! This was a big reason for my success in the class.
Professor Haskell is very well-organized. She has fill-in notes for every chapter, and she records all of her lectures. The class is very challenging (most challenging math class I've taken at USC), but it is very fulfilling. The lectures are very proof and theory-heavy. Exams are challenging but are heavily curved.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
27%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.27 avg changeRatings by Course
118A
5.0
(1)MATH265
4.0
(1)MATH225
3.3
(6)MATH126
3.1
(11)MATH425A
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
CACULUS118
5.0
BUAD118
5.0
CALCBUS
5.0
MATH425A
5.0
MATH458
4.5