2.8
Quality3.8
Difficulty38%
Would Retake95
Reviews38%
Would Retake
95
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
19
4
17
3
11
2
18
1
30
What Students Say
“Notes are unclear and vague”
MAE215 - 1.0 rating“He makes the class have way too much homework for a 1 cred”
MAE215 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
77%
Textbook Required
3%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.87 avg changeRatings by Course
MAE384
5.0
(1)MEE340
3.8
(4)FSE100
3.5
(6)MAE201
3.4
(7)MAE215
2.8
(53)Difficulty by Course
MAE241
4.1
MAE384
4.0
MAE215
3.9
MAE201
3.9
MAE213
3.8
Reviews (95)
Dr. Benson is insanely smart, and well spoken. He does a great job of keeping the class interested. This was his first time teaching the class, so there was some obviously difficulty. But it was obvious that he was a great teacher. This class is required for engineers but if you aren't an ME I would take another professor! He is very ME oriented!
This class was very hard, the lack of clear instructions, and ridiculous standards for previous knowledge expected by him before taking this class. The labs were long and he showed extreme favoritism towards certain groups while picking on others.
Dr. Benson is an amazing teacher that teaches you the real world of engineering. Inspires you to try to do your best and take up a self-learning approach. Not everything will be given to you in your engineering career. The final project build does not depend on it working, but the time you put into it. No favoritism, only seeing who was trying hard
Dr. Benson is one of the best teacher I have had. To pass the class just show up and participate. The course schedule is kinda scrambled and dates change a lot, but if you miss a due date you can turn it in and theres not really any late work. Doesnt provide a lot of direction in the class and lets you choose your own way to work on your projects.
He's a weird teacher. Not hard just gets kinda annoying because he likes to talk.
Expectations are not made very clear to the class. Ideas that he presents are interesting but not communicated well; things that he says are crucial at the beginning of the semester were never brought up again. Group projects are hit or miss but not necessarily a fault of the professor. Did some cool things but very little related to my major
He understands the struggle of being a full-time student and that learning a new program can be very stressful and difficult. His homeworks were explained in class, and he walked you through it. The only annoying thing was the participation work he gave in class.
Needs to spend more time going over difficult topics and walking students through more complicated coding techniques.
Took him for heat transfer(MEE340). Go to his lectures, he goes over lots of examples and occasionally has in class activities. Expect 4-6 hours of homework per week. Fair grader and curves the tests based on class performance. Nice guy and wants everyone to be successful. I would take him again! Don't forget your Barry Bonds asterix.
Took him for MAE 215, MATLAB, its a one credit hour course and it seemed like he understood this. Homework wasn't bad at all and most of the time if you attempted it you got the points. He ended up giving a final project and a test but both were relatively easy. He also curved overall grades :)
He is by far the best ASU teacher. He is so chill and if there is any discrepancy on a homework/test, he works it out with you. The class material is rough but he is the teacher you want for it. He does extra credit opportunities at the end of the class to help your grade and does curves on the tests. Would definitely take him again!
Benson is such a great teacher, really forgiving and has amazing lectures. One of the best teachers on campus, and work in his class is easy. Doesn't give more than what is expected of a 1 credit class, and is willing to work with you to ensure you'll succeed.
This class is the hardest one credit course I have. Not that any of the assignments are really tough. His instructions are very vague and it take about 1 hour just to figure it out. Moreover, it takes about 4-5 hrs each week to do his homework. He does not give any extra credit and doing bad on one assignment can mess up your grade.
Lectures consist of cringe-worthy memes rather than actually teaching you how to use MATLAB. Notes are unclear and vague. He gives weekly homework assignments that he claims should be simple and easy, but since he doesn't actually teach you how to do them, you will end up spending 5 hours a week teaching yourself for a one credit class. AVOID
He makes the class have way too much homework for a 1 cred. I spend 5-6 hours on many of the weekly assignments, then get low scores (50% - 80%) on them for making minor mistakes, even though the code does what he asks the final product to do. The requirements for assignments are very vague so it's hard to know if you have everything you need.
Benson does not know how to teach. His lectures go way too fast for an intro course, and he leaves you with vague and confusing notes and assignment instructions. Doesn't respond to emails, and if he does, he'll just tell you to figure it out yourself, which will usually take 5+ hours a week.
He doesn't teach during class and goes over what you were supposed to do in the homework. He tells you to look up the material on youtube and gets upset when you dont use the stuff he "taught" in class. I get the coding correct but get around a 40%-70% on assignments because of minor mistakes with my name on a program that took hours to code.
Benson teaches the basics then assigns homework that requires more , and doesn't exactly show you how to get there so you have to spend hours debugging or searching google. The homework takes hours , even though its supposed to be a 1 credit course, and there are many things you need to know that aren't even taught in the course.
He's a super approachable guy who cares about teaching. The classes are pretty involved and he likes to do in class activities where you work with your neighbors. Sometimes gets off topic but really cares about you actually learning the material.
Lectures are not very helpful. They very random and scattered and often too fast paced to follow. Benson is a very nice guy and personable teacher. However, the work required for a 1 credit class is not realistic.
Tough one credit hour course. Entertaining lecturer and great guy, but gives a lot of homework. This homework takes tons of time and is necessary to complete to pass the course. We had a final project and exam. Both of which were difficult (in my opinion) in their own ways. Likable guy, but the course is hard work.
Benson DOES NOT grade any of the assignments you turn in. They are all graded by TA's who are extremely hit or miss. Of the 12 assignments, I had to request 3 regrades all of which resulted in me earning anywhere from a 40% to 90% grade boost. He is also very poor at communicating via email and updating grades.
One credit class which requires approximately 5 hours of work per week. His PowerPoints are useless, and sometimes do not explain the assignment adequately. TAs are extremely terrible graders. I would get knocked off points for unassigned items and sometimes not even receive feedback. Moreover, I did not receive feedback on my final project.
He is very skilled in MATLAB and a strong professor for this class. I did an honors contract with him and he was very helpful.
For MEE 340, expect a lot of homework and in-class assignments, which is worth 45% of the final grade. He also offers extra credit projects and exams were fair and curved. For those complaining about emails & grades, he had over 500 students last semester. Bottom line: great guy, cares about your education, and approachable. Definitely recommend.
For a one-credit class, this had way too much homework. I felt sometimes I spent a whole day on these assignments just for the TA's to give me like a 6/10 because I didn't comment something correctly. If you can avoid taking this class at all, I would. FSE 100 teaches a fair amount of Matlab and most of this class was learning it yourself anyway
The class is tough as is but his teaching style makes it harder. Most of his lectures are spent on only 1, maybe 2 examples which he doesn't explain thoroughly nor does he teach the easiest or most efficient way to get the answer. I asked him for help & he was condescending and unhelpful. He says he looks for effort but his grading style says not.
This class was very confusing and he was not very helpful to students who needed legitimate help, only the geniuses that went to his office hours just to chill. Grading was inconsistent and his powerpoints were mostly just bad puns unrelated to course content.
I took his class Spring 2018 and got a D. I retook it with him in the summer and got an A. Shows you the inconsistencies within his class. From my experience I would say tho during the summer, the class was smaller and the learning environment was just better overall. So if you want to cough up $600 for the summer he is a solid choice.
I am a mechanical engineering major and take difficult classes and do well in them, but this one credit hour class is the hardest i have taken and requires the most work. Literally calc 2, physics, and other engineering classes are a breeze compared to this. He made 5 assignments due during a week with midterms. He also is very vague. Terrible
Professor Benson cares about his students but does not teach the class specific material well and relies on the student googling half of the code for the homework. If there are other options available, TAKE ANOTHER CLASS. You will learn material but it will rely on the 5 hours it takes you each week to figure it out.
Attendance was not mandatory but he would have a graded assignment in every class based on a random problem that has not been taught yet. His lectures were power points based on poorly timed jokes and him telling us why he doesn't like the solution manual but doesn't teach us how to properly do the problem. I don't recommend him at all.
Benson's statics class isn't for everyone . He takes a very minimalistic approach and keeps grinding the same things over and over quickly. If you understand the basics at the beginning then the class gets easier and his lectures are more of just a confidence boost. The homework assigned to all statics students can take hours and is graded harshly
Professor benson is very reasonable especially if you go talk to him one on one in office hours. He is a very smart guy, but very demanding of his students.
He teaches this class like you have experience in coding, but I did not. Very hard HW and lots of in class activities that make 30% of ur grade. Definitely a lot of work for a one hour of class, especially for those who knw nothing about coding. He has a ton of office hours which is great; he is very intelligent, but can still communicate ideas.
Prof Benson is absolutely not going to be for everyone. He's a bit corny with all the memes but I thought he was funny. He teaches a very ABC way to solve statics problems and if it clicks with you then the class isn't too bad. The grading on everything is insanely harsh though, not his fault, every Statics class shares the same graders.
Statics is hard to jump right into, but it seems like Benson sometimes forgets this. His lecture slides and explanations are fast and shallow. He focuses on method and technique over computation. His office hours are much better. He's a genius and is quick to remind you, but readily willing to help you learn if you ask questions of any kind.
MATLAB with Dr. Benson is a great class. He has been doing this for a while, and he's a funny professor to get lectured by. He certainly makes use of his 50 min lecture and 3 hour expected time frame for outside of class work. This is not inherently bad, but just be diligent about your work and follow lectures. Don't slack for coding classes.
Terrible! I am taking his introduction to Matlab class and I have not learned a single thing. the man gives 6 hours of hw with basically 0 instructions. he tends to go off track in lectures and just talk about a bunch of bs. he also puts lame memes in his lecture slides and its the cringiest thing I've ever seen.
Honestly, this class isn't worth it. Three hours of coursework per week for a one credit class gets extremely tedious. Sometimes the assignments offer little to no explanation yet he expects you to be able to fully complete it without any problems. The grading is also ridiculous--one missing line of code can take up to 50% off of your assignment.
You'll have your work cut out for you but Dr Benson is a great guy and will try his best to help if you see him during office hours. Expect to spend 3 hours a week on homework assignments and take advantage of his lecture slides.
I took him for MAE301, hes the worst prof Ive ever had. Unorganized + time consuming homeworks, hard + unexpected exam problems. Very Tough grading, plus boring lectures. Nothing is really good about m him. Do your best to avoid taking any classes with him.
Dr. Benson does a great job teaching this course. Learning to program in MATLAB is no easy task, but he teaches the class almost like a language course. Each week, he introduces material that builds on the previous week and puts it all in perspective. The assignments can be tough, but putting in the work is definitely worth it.
Benson mustn't be a teacher. Boring lectures, long&Confusing homework, unorganized lectures, AND tough grader. He does not explain anything in the class, all he does is this: here is a problem, talk to your neighbor to think about a way to solve it. All of my friends in this class found Benson to be the worst. Try not to take any class with him.
It's a one credit course and there is far too much of a workload for it. The coding assignments are that of a 400 level course.
Pretty good professor with a casual approach to lecturing. Having known nothing of Matlab before the class, I am now moderately comfortable with it. Homework has an appropriate difficulty level (pay attention in class/look at posted lectures and they're not that bad) although admittedly take longer than is appropriate for a 1 credit hour course.
Benson is a really laid back guy and super helpful in office hours, he really knows his stuff. You'll need to try for this class, it won't be handed to you. He will definitely utilize the golden rule of "per credit 3 hours of outside work". If you're ever stuck he will help you if you've made an honest attempt. Overall a great guy.
Dr Benson is a well respected professor that knows what he is teaching very well. He is very easy to talk to and his lectures (in class) are pretty easy to follow. The powerpoints themselves can be quite confusing at times. His TAs were pretty inconsistent with grading the first few weeks but got better. Would recommend.,
This class was difficult. The only thing that made me mad was that each week the assignment would take about 3 hours, and then is only graded out of ten points. If you miss one thing it is really easy to drop a letter grade. Also, It is summer and there are assignments that haven't been graded since March. Every assignment builds off of the last.
It's hard to grade him this harshly, cause he is genuinely a really charismatic and cool dude. I've had him twice now, and his assignments and lectures can be vague and/or unimportant. I missed class a few times this semester, and it didn't effect anything. He also didn't grade roughly 60% of homework/in-class work until the date of deadline.
Class with professor Benson was never boring, he was in fact the biggest memelord I have ever seen. He was super nice and helpful after class and in office hours and his nerdy sense of humor always get a chuckle or two out of me. The only gripe I had was that not a single grade was ever put into the grade book until literally the LAST day!
Literally the laziest professor there is when it comes to creating meaningful homework assignments. You can tell he spends about 10 minutes total creating each assignment, leaving you with a bunch of busy work and ambiguous content with little to no meaning. Worst of all, he will not grade every homework, and only select 1 problem when he does.
After having Benson for MATLAB, I told myself I'd never take another class with him, so it's a surprise to even me when I say Benson did an amazing job teaching stats, as he could relate it to real engineering applications. His lectures are useful if you pay attention; however, the HWs are far too long and include a ludicrous amount of busy work.
Benson likes teaching you life lessons with his material. He's a great guy and office hours are the best. I didn't get a whole lot out of lectures, but I just read the book and was about as fine as I could have been. I received the grade I deserved for sure, but Benson isn't great about grades, or emailing. If you want something, just talk to him.
Cool person, bad professor. Homework assignments were always super long, none graded quickly, and only 1 of the 6-8 hour long problems each week actually got graded. Lectures feel more like TED talks and are full of random tangents and jokes rather than useful content. That said, grades always work out in your favor - he doesn't want to fail you.
Benson knows exactly what he is doing. He is a very good professor. Most of the information is already on his lectures slides. This has been terrible so far though. This is a one credit class and I find myself doing more homework on this than a 4 credit class. This amount of work is absolutely ridiculous
Definitely a very smart guy with programming. Lectures are usually pretty useless, I mainly just used Mathworks' website for help. Assignments/lecture slides just full of useless information and off-topic stuff. Sometimes it's really difficult to understand what he's actually asking for. But really accessible to students.
Just a lovable, prof. COVID screwed with everyone, but he was so kind and generous in MAE 215 during the pandemic it was unbelievable. He's a great teacher too.
Professor Benson lectures pretty well and throws in jokes throughout. The PowerPoints are very useful for completing homework which was pretty fair in terms of difficulty. Final project was also well handled, he provided a lot of help to complete it.
Difficult for a one credit class, but worth it. This guy knows his stuff and wants to make you the best you can be. Holds helpful office hours, clear expectations, clear schedule, and reliable. He's got tons of experience in the field and wants to find students internships. 10/10 would take again.
Knows his stuff. Lectures interesting but don't apply much to homework. Mainly relied on MathWorks help files. Final project was 4 parts. Officer hours very helpful he genuinely cares. Homework due every week usually multiple parts. Easy grader on homework. Be prepared to teach yourself, but he is there to help if you look for it.
1 credit hour class but feels like a 4 hour class. THe assignments are long over three hours so give yourself sometime. Benson is a funny guy that knows his stuff but the class itself is not the best.
Benson is a caring, engaging, and funny professor. His lectures can be abstract, so I had to figure a lot of things out myself. Go to his office hours. The homework for this class is insane--took at least 5 hours per week on average. I complained about this class a lot but in the end it was worth it and I learned a lot.
He is a charismatic guy, and makes lectures interesting. It is an introductory coding class which is hard if people havent had experience with coding before, but he does his best to keep assignments manageable. Get ready to put a lot of work in the class, and if you get frustrated with homework, his office hours are very useful.
Took Dr. Benson for Numerical. The notes were hard to follow along with, He gives a lot of homework, and he expects your best. That being said, he cares. He makes a lot of time for office hours and won't stop helping until you get it. His lectures are interesting and he can be funny too. Hated the class at first, but I learned a lot. Solid Teacher
Dr. Benson is an accessible professor who expects you to put in the work and reach out if you're struggling. He teaches coding like a language and does a great job of introducing concepts in a building block approach. There are weekly hmwk assignments with one fairly large coding project . Overall a solid choice for a professor.
Benson's lectures are usually a waste of time. The projects he assigns have little relation to the lecture slides, which are filled with miscellaneous information and references to unrelated projects. Some people love him; from what I gather, the people who do have previous programming experience and already know the basics.
Benson is almost impossible to reach outside of class. If you email him, don't expect a response for several days. Considering this class works with something as unpredictable and difficult as MATLAB this is a huge issue. The class is only a one credit course so it's really not a big deal, but why is this one credit course so difficult???
This was Prof. Benson's second time teaching this class, so I can't be too hard on him. He seems like a fun guy, but the way he makes concepts much more difficult than they have to be. MAE 213 isn't too bad if you study.
Benson's HW will make strong use of the "3 hours per credit hour" rule. He tends to overwork his TAs so don't expect grades within 3 weeks of submission. Lectures are presented via powerpoint. Tests tend to be heavily weighted by a single random subject (out of many). I'd recommend any other options available. This makes me disappointed in ASU.
Do not take this class if he is teaching it even in another section. He makes the homework and they are some of the worst assignments I've ever had. Tests are horrible, avg on both tests was around 50% no curve. He also ruined recitation forcing everyone to do dumb attendance worksheets like we're children. Has a terrible rep with students. Avoid.
I have had Dr. Benson 4 times (MAE 384, MAE 215, MAE 241, MAE 301). Yes, his teaching style is different than other professors, but the thing that I have really come to appreciate is his devotion to students. He is a flexible and caring guy. He will move assignments around based on student needs. Definitely utilize office hours, he will help you.
Maybe better in person, avoid at all costs for remote learning. Lectures are him speeding through already finished examples, at semester end classes started late and ended up to 30 min early. Deflects blame for his mistakes on technology or TAs. Took 10 weeks for some grades, had to do many regrade requests due to errors. Hardly accessible.
Let me preface this by saying I have never gotten below an A/A+ in any engineering class. Yet, here I am at the end of the semester with a B+ in a stats class. The amount of hw is stupid, test questions are poorly made, and grading is vague and outright laughable. I can confidently say that Benson is the worst engineering professor I have ever had.
Benson was great for 215, but was very challenging for 213. This was his 2nd time teaching it, his 1st over summer. He rushed through lectures to the point where I couldn't take notes. Grading was slow and almost solely on Gradescope, not ported to Canvas till the end. Normally average an A- each semester, this was the first class I have failed.
Lots of frustrations in Dr Benson's class. Does not respond to emails. He struck me as unprofessional in his communications. At times his instructions for assignments were quite unclear. Did not grade any of our work until after the semester ended. Very tangent-filled lecture style. Often joined class late due to tech issues.
WORST PROFESSOR I HAVE EVER HAD AT ASU! You are assigned a months worth of homework every week, one is a packet with like 5 questions but parts a-z, Seriously!! LOTS OF PARTS TO EACH QUESTION. He doesn't teach anything in lecture but speed runs through irrelevant problems, on top of the packet, you have like a ton of online problems due same time
Easily the worst professor I've ever had. Lectures are uninformative and rushed so that you can hardly take notes. He knows what he's talking about but he forgets that his students don't. He talks as if he does not know how to convey his thoughts, this makes everything so much more confusing. If you value your GPA, avoid this prof at all costs.
Lectures are informative but rushed, very hard to take notes. The amount of homework is ridiculous - for just an intro level class, expect between three to five codes a week. He has office hours every day of the work week and gives pretty solid advice. Lectures and lecture notes are uploaded to canvas. Uses lots of odd websites for school.
I've had Benson for three classes in my college career, and done well in all of them. Class structure is typically always harder than he describes it to be, and most assignments take more time than he describes. Want help? Expect a cryptic answer/explanation that will leave you more confused than before. Try to stay away if possible.
David Benson was the one professor in my educational career that made me want to change my major despite how far I've come with engineering. Possibly the worst professor I've ever had and will have before I graduate soon. Don't take a class with him if you've ever doubted yourself in becoming an engineer or majoring in engineering. You. Will. Quit.
Benson is one of the worst professors I have taken so far. His lectures are extremely dense (60 slides per 50 minute lecture) and rushes through them. Gets annoyed by lots of questions. 3-4 hours of coding homework per week, though class is 1 credit. His homework instructions are very vague and unclear, and his notes are not always helpful.
By far the worst professor I've had, avoid at all costs (yes, sign up for the 7:30 AM instead). He takes weeks to grade fairly short exams. He didn't release an exam grade until after the drop deadline, then tells his students "it's not a big deal, its just a grade, its just numbers". He might be ok for intro to MATLAB, but still avoid that.
Proff Benson is a very engaging lecturer. The MATLAB challenges are difficult, but not too much. He equips you with all the knowledge and skills you need figure out that weeks assignment. For a 1 credit course, he fits in an incredible amount of content, and has definitely helped me grow more comfortable in MATLAB.
Honestly, I think he's a solid professor. All the information you need is in his lecture slides and grading is pretty lenient. I think the workload might be a little too much for 1 credit but it's nothing really too crazy and it's doable if you manage your time and don't procrastinate like everyone else does.
Lectures are filled with tangents. Can feel somewhat unprofessional in his communications. Assigns too much work for the TAs to keep up with grading. Provides good help in office hours, but does not respond to emails.
Terrible, i gave him the benefit of the doubt thinking he sucked at just teaching matlab, but OH WAS I WRONGSKIS, he just universally sucks. Lectures were always rushed zero clarity never explaines anything, your best bet is to just skip lecture. I learned more from the textbook than him, I loved thermo but shame that I had to deal with benson.
oh dear god, do not take Benson. His lectures are terrible, he does not do examples and he does not listen to feedback. He does not care about the students. I stopped going to his lectures and started using the other professor's notes to learn, and my test grades increased by 15%. Benson is by far the worst professor I have had yet.
Statics is run really well at ASU, and you get a lot of support from TAs. Benson is funny, always answers questions well, and cares about his students. Managed to create one of the only classes that was truly engaging over Zoom. Lots of work no matter who you take, in class submissions almost every class day and several hours of homework a week.
Quite frustrating - doesn't respond to ANY emails, rushes through lectures, lots of work for a 1 credit class, KEEPS EVERY WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT'S RUBRIC UNTIL AFTER THEY ARE GRADED and expects you to attend office hours even if you can't. My past experience with C++ definitely helped with this class but would advise you to take CSE 100 or 120 instead.
This is my second course I have had with Benson (MAE 215 prior) and I can confidently say he is the worst professor I have ever had. He is extremely condescending if you ever reach out for help, is not assessable by email, and makes his own style of the curriculum to teach that is extremely unfocused. I would rather drop a class than have Benson.
I feel he is a good teacher. He was fair in grading the class and he teaches the material fairly well. Pay attention to lectures because if he writes a test then believe that the material on the exam will be from the lectures specifically, not just the homework assigned. If you take him, stick it out & do the assignments. You will get a good grade.
Horrible professor. I never do stuff like this but I had to warn students. I took mae 215 and had to withdraw because this clown doesn't teach anything. I decided to learn programming by taking cse 110 instead. When I went to class I saw many students that also dropped/failed mae 215. Seems like a cool guy but awful teacher.
This was the hardest ONE CREDIT class EVER!! I was spending HOURS a week doing projects for this class. I came out of it feeling like I don't even know how to program all that well and very confused. Whenever a student voices concern, it's obvious he doesn't care. Avoid this class and professor!!
If you can, avoid taking Dr. Benson at all costs! He refused to teach our course and continually told us to use google to learn all of the topics for the class. The homework was insane with 8 hours of work a week for this 1 credit class. Also, he refuses to be reachable outside of class. He NEVER responds to emails even about urgent matters.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
77%
Textbook Required
3%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.87 avg changeRatings by Course
MAE384
5.0
(1)MEE340
3.8
(4)FSE100
3.5
(6)MAE201
3.4
(7)MAE215
2.8
(53)Difficulty by Course
MAE241
4.1
MAE384
4.0
MAE215
3.9
MAE201
3.9
MAE213
3.8