2.6
Quality3.9
Difficulty43%
Would Retake149
Reviews43%
Would Retake
149
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
149 total ratings5
13
4
37
3
23
2
24
1
52
What Students Say
“Avoid taking him for comp arch, learned nothing from his class”
CS211 - 1.0 rating“Awful, do not take him”
CS211 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
14%
Textbook Required
0%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Improving
+0.60 avg changeRatings by Course
CS314
2.7
(15)CS214
2.7
(50)CS211
2.6
(62)CCS211
2.5
(13)CS112
2.0
(6)Difficulty by Course
CS112
4.3
CS211
4.0
CS314
3.8
CS214
3.8
CCS211
3.6
Reviews (148)
Great professor fair exams helpful during end of lecture or if you go to office hours. Gives extra credit on some of the programming assignments (5 programming assignments)
Good lecturer. Explains things clearly and responds well to questions. If assignment descriptions are unclear, he will clarify if you ask. Covers material needed for assignments and exams well in lecture.
He doesn't seem to understand how to teach 211. Often has an attitude in class, usually when answering questions. Average project grades were around 30s and 40s. My final grade was curved up about 20 points which is great for my GPA but I am now unprepared for my next class. Avoid if you actually want to learn properly.
I felt that Menendez was a great professor. He gave multiple extensions when people would ask for them. He was clear in describing and explaining topics. His project guidelines were clear. The part I loved the most was that the stuff he reviewed for the tests is what was on the tests. No surprises. Would def take again.
Menendez is an awful professor for 211. He has a highfalutin attitude and scoffs at students when they ask questions. He goes over material much too quickly and does not explain concepts well at all. Overall, his lectures are subpar and a waste of 1 hour 20 minutes. I would recommend not going to lectures, if not for his iClicker quizzes.
He was very sarcastic and rude whenever people asked questions in lecture or went to him for help during office hours. He teaches important topics much too quickly, esp. topics that will be on projects. He did not give extensions despite the whole class asking. He doesnt seem to care that his students learn, or do well.
He is a very nasty and unhelpful person. He talks down to everyone and is straight out rude when students ask questions. He is very sarcastic and does not go over material thoroughly, much less well. He also goes very quickly and reads off the powerpoints so lecture is essentially useless, besides the clicker quizzes. Try to avoid if you can.
Rarely answered question directly. He was sometimes condencending towards some students who asked questions. Barely ever explained any concepts all the way. He would sometimes get really sarcastic and it would be annoying.
Doesn't give extensions, when multiple people ask on multiple forums (Piazza, in class, in office hours). He's condescending when answering questions in class, makes it pretty clear to you if he doesn't like you. His exams are unreasonable and lacks any kind of empathy for you, and he blames his class's bad grades on lack of intellect of students.
Professor Menendez is a very intelligent person; however, as a professor he lacks a lot of simple things you would expect. He is very condescending and sarcastic to his students, and fails to answer questions straight-forward. He is not really understanding and has a very low amount of patience, especially to those who ask questions repeatedly.
Awful, do not take him. Disrespectful to his students, makes fun of them and not helpful at all. Exams are too hard and programming assignments are even harder.
Avoid taking him for comp arch, learned nothing from his class. I found youtube videos and recitation far more helpful. PA1 to PA3, make sure you score well in them, Pa4 and Pa5 would most likely screw you over.
Worst lecturer I've ever had. Ended up sleeping through most lectures because of the way he teaches. Tried to stay awake but failed. If you have sleep problem would recommend.
Many of these people who has given "Awful" are most likely those that feel entitled. He presents the materials and you learn it, its college, if you want to be spoon-fed then good luck in life. Feels unapproachable during lectures with an attitude, but at Office hours hes different. I doubt many students who complain actually goes. PP are useless.
His class isn't taught in an engaging way and we don't have enough time to do the projects.
He isnt the best professor but I cant say I havent learned from his lectures. He can make mistakes every now and then but will correct them. there are times where hes not very helpful and there are times where he tries his best to make sure the class understands. Hes pretty patient when students ask why or if he can do another problem.
Only cares about not being behind on lecture slides. Mocks students' questions. Skips around on questions on Piazza, even important questions, like about how many points sections of the project are. When he does answer questions, the answers are not clear enough/they mock how the questions are posed. Assigned last project in last week of classes.
Menendez is getting a large number of dislikes here due to how he managed CS211 but he is not as bad as everyone is stating. Some of his answers and some of his statements may have been slightly harsh/arrogant at times and the tests may have been less than ideal but they were manageable. He is a decent professor, definitely not the worst.
Overall, he's a good guy. Pay attention, do the homework, ask questions when confused, take advantage of office hours if needed. He wants you to learn, but there's nothing he can do if you don't speak up.
Avoid him, try to get a better professor who isn't so disorganized with notes, homeworks, and projects. IMO he is a terrible teacher, and I learned nothing from him.
I found the slides to be somewhat helpful outside of class but sometimes during lecture I couldn't grasp the concepts as he explained them. The exams were pretty difficult. Sometimes he was kind of rude. I would give him a 3 but he somehow lost the grades for the most time consuming project which didn't affect me but I still find it inexcusable.
So bad. His lecture is useless!
would take again
Principles of prog languages. He reads off the slides, you don't need to come to class. All you need is the slides. Assignments are very easy. Dry lectures, not sure I would recommend, or take for another class.
bad prof
He's not a bad person however he is very bad at explaining the concepts. Projects are confusing. Tests are also confusing. Hard to research the course material on your *which is what you might have to do because chances are you won't learn much in class." Not much I can say that's good about him. He's smart but jesus teaching is not for him!
If you ever have the idea of choosing CS as your major, please avoid his classes. You will graduate without any hassle if you don't take his classes. That's all I gotta say.
You either understand the lectures right away or do not. He is excellent at explaining concepts in office hours. Projects are fine as long as you view the examples in the check code. You can expect the exams to feature similar problems to assignments and projects. However, the exams are as difficult as Math 3xx Honors Classes, so be prepared.
He literally made me contemplate my major. Rude and talks down to people. Projects are insanely hard, it's a 200-level course but I honestly feel like the projects are 400 level difficulty. My advice going in: learn C as much as you can before the semester starts, and start going to church to pray to God you don't destroy your GPA
It is the best professor in Rutgers CS department
Prof Menendez is a fine cs professor. The midterm exam is really hard, and the average is below 50%(But the final is pretty easy so everyone can get a chance to improve their grade by final exam). He is good at explaining concept but the slides are a little bit boring when you review by yourself. The assignment is not so difficult but time-consuming
LITERALLY THE WORST EVER PROFESSOR. EXAMS ARE OUT OF THE WORLD. NEVER REPLIES TO EMAILS. HIS OWN EXAM TAKES HIM 4 DAYS TO ANSWER AND EXPECTS HIS STUDENTS TO ANSWER THEM IN 4 MINS. WHEN IT DOESN'T WORK HE SAYS SORRY THIS SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ON THE TEST AND WHAT IS WORSE IS HE WON'T GIVE BONUS POINTS TO CORRECT HIS MISTAKE. DO NOT TAKE HIM PERIOD!!!!
Simply put, he's the reason I switched out of CS and went to Math. Maybe I found him worse than he actually is since CS isn't my strong suit but this man was the reason I was having midlife crises at age 19. He's a reality check and made me realize that I should do what im good at but he did so by not providing a fair amount of resources to pass.
Menendez does exactly what he's supposed to. His lectures are informative and he does a relatively good job of explaining the material. He does tend to be a little abrasive at times, but only if you ask some stupid question. Overall, he's a fun professor to have and both cs112 and cs211 have been fine.
Study by yourself Useless lecture disorganized
I was expecting horrible things because of his reputation, however I found the experience to be the opposite. Maybe he's changed or people exaggerated. He answered every question on piazza on time, gave us extra credit, made the last project optional and was very structured. The exams were extremely fair, i will say tho the lectures were a bit dry.
Seems to have turned the class around. He responds quickly on piazza and answers all questions during lectures. Has iClicker quizzes in class so you have to attend. Interesting class!
Good lecturer, helpful on Piazza. Projects are a bit time consuming, but the class was overall enjoyable.
To my surprise, Professor Menendez was nothing like the negative reviews on here. Computer Architecture isn't an easy class. He provides a lot of material to perform good in the class, and carefully explains each concept. However, a lot of outside research and studying is crucial to succeed (as in any class). Exams are very fair, not too difficult.
The projects are too hard, especially the assembly one. Many of the codes are out of the bound of course without a instruction. The thing that surprises me is, I can't believe that over than a half of students get 100% on that hard one.
He's really helpful and incredibly accomodating during online class. I really don't understand why his score is so low, he's a little sassy sometimes but he's incredibly intelligent.
Prof Menendez's lectures were really dull for CS214. He always goes on Tangents. If you want to learn something and actually have a professor that makes you interested in the material, attend Prof Francisco's lectures. I regret signing up for Prof Menendez's class.
Good lecturer, easy assignments and quizzes. Final exam was annoying but doable (all MC, but wording of the questions made things confusing). Learned a lot.
While I didn't appreciate some things like typos in the assignment write ups nor the prof's propensity to digress, I think the class was worth taking and useful for building skills and competencies related to lower level programming. The final was poorly done, but overall I'd generally recommend for people interested in the course's topics.
While the lecture content was interesting, his teaching style was much less so, and I struggled to not zone out in this class. The project pacing was at first fine, but way too intensive later on. The final was a joke which had some topics only the other teacher had covered. (no communication between profs?) HWs and some projects had EC at least.
Menendez is super knowledgeable; although comp arch material is pretty dry, he teaches it effectively and has interesting answers to good questions. He does get annoyed fairly easily when people ask him something he's already answered, so try to actually pay attention. He is very helpful if it's clear you're putting in your best effort.
This class is kinda challenging for incoming CS students, but it is really many stuffs to learn. Not an easy class, but worth it.
The course is not well organized. Sometimes he would just wind up off the topics he was intended to cover. Overall, he did his best
I've had Menendez for 112, 211, and now 214. This class was the most disorganized class Ive ever taken, in large part due to his communication with the TAs (not solely his fault). We had 3 projects & he'd spend entire lectures teaching us the necessary material to do them well after they were assigned. I don't recommend Menny unless nothing better
Had the most disorganized class I've ever seen yet somehow at the same time has the self righteousness to be incredibly rude. Not a good lecturer, goes off on tangents too many times, and projects took literal months to grade (though that was actually the TA's fault but he never effectively communicated with them)
This class was the worst. Teacher did not grade projects for months and then blamed TAs for it. Stay away from him. Exam was really hard, there was a lot code driven questions on exam. Little to no communication when asked about updates by email. He is very unorganized.
I took it during Spring 2021. Quizzes were really easy if you watch and pay attention to his lectures, projects are standard for what other professors give in this class, final had the same format and structure as his exams. Would highly recommend because his class was a joke, but idk how that's gonna change with everything back in person again.
His lectures are extremely dry and not helpful. He did not assign TAs/LAs until like mid OCTOBER. This semester, a lot of us had troubles with downloading assignments/being connected to the ilab machines, but he was not of any help; he "extends" deadlines by extending the late submission late period. Highly DO NOT recommend.
The professors lecture makes it difficult to understand what he wants to teach you. Although the homework is not difficult, the quiz is difficult and does not have much to do with the content of the lecture.
This professor is not good don't take him, trust me. You expect to know C a lot of them at the beginning and then quiz base on the lecture stuff and hard. At the same time he doesn't answer the question when student asking about. He try to talk by himself. Project is heavy and no extend. The bomb website crash and give no time for us.
The lecture is dry and boring, the professor likes to see his student fail the class and wish them to retake it again with him for next semester. The professor is mean and rude to students; the project was ok but the due date was too short. Overall, I would not recommend taking it with him.
Menendez knows his stuff but can be harsh with students. If you're taking his 211 course, start your programming assignments early, because you cannot rush them. They take about a week of dedicated attention to finish.
The worst part was the grading schema coupled with the fact that the final grade was so heavily weighted on so few quizzes (3 counted for 35%). In addition to this, the class focuses way too much on Haskell specifically, instead of going beyond Haskell and getting to the principles, he will quiz you on obscure Haskell syntax related problems.
Worst CS prof. Had him online. Lectures are boring, just goes over his slides. 80% students skipped class to complete his difficult C projects. Never replies to emails. Really disorganized course. Took him 5 weeks to set up recitations (my TA was useless). WIll not recommend him. Class is curved. Hasn't even released final grades yet.
By far the worst CS professor I have had. The lectures are very boring. He sometimes doesn't respond to emails. He gets agitated when you ask him to repeat something. Project write-ups are okay. He was very disorganized, didn't have a TA for like 2 months. Projects take up time so definitely start early.
Here's the thing - Menedez knows what he's doing, but his lack of organization and occasional rudeness definitely ruins his quality of teaching. If you're taking CS211, start assignments early, read the textbook, and have a good foundation going with the first 3 (or 2) assignments, which are doable. GET ILABS SET UP ASAP!
He's really smart. He really knows his material and has a lot of low level knowledge to offer; that was interesting. BUT, he's not a good professor. Waited 5 weeks for recitations to start. First assignment right during midterms. Super rude and rejected the entire class who was asking for an extension. The way he explains things is AWFUL.
avoid at all costs
Menendez was late in grading projects by weeks, projects take weekends to accomplish (12-25 hours of work). Generally unorganized and typically rude/dismissive to students who asked (albeit unnecessary) questions during lecture. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and registered for cs214 the next semester - this was a mistake.
He is overall a good professor. He has a very big curve. I enjoyed his class but he does not respond to his emails. His class is overall easy if you study normally.
Very rude for no reason... assignments took a long time to complete but were doable. If there is someone else teaching this course, go with them.
He's smart, the content of his lectures are interesting. Gave extensions for most projects. Recorded his lectures which was really nice. However, he cannot teach effectively. Wrote mostly in a text editor. Went really fast and just expects you to know / figure it out for yourself. I'd send hours researching things he didn't go over properly.
I took him spring of 2022, so the first few weeks of class were virtual. This jumbled up his schedule, so we had to rush through the material in the final weeks of class. His projects are pretty straightforward, but the tests do occasionally throw you in for a loop (such as the C questions). There's also a curve, which is nice.
In spring 2022, I took menny's cs211 and cs214 at the mean time. He is all over the place. The disorganize of the whole course is second only to that of Fransisco. I think menny's lecture will soon become a meme like Franny's. cs211 has a autograder, so I receive my coding grade quite soon.
But for cs214, that becomes a disaster. yes, all the people in his class, receive their grades of projects (there are 4 projects), midterms, finals at the day before the deadline for lecturers to submit their student grades. Huge curve applied. My roommate got a 45 out of 100 for total grade, but still got B. I got 70 % and is already A.
Professor Menendez is a decent option for Comp Arch. I thought his lectures were fine (he even still recorded them this semester), but he sometimes fell behind other sections of his class and had to rush through some material. His programming assignments were doable and he gave the option to redo one of them to replace your grade. Exams felt fair.
He's pretty average. The worst part about him is that he doesn't give practice exams/practice problems, so you'll be going into exams pretty blind.
lectures are not that good and he sometimes gets passive aggressive at questions. Assignments are not that bad though
In lecture he doesn't explain concepts well and he gets annoyed easily by questions (although sometimes they were unnecessary questions). The exams were difficult, although the assignments were not bad. also gave us a generous curve and recorded his lectures which was nice.
Menendez is overall an okay teacher. He gets somewhat annoyed when people ask trivial questions. The assignments are hard (especially PA4), and there is little time to cover them. However, he is very generous with the curve (you needed a 19/100 or less to fail his class).
Avoid if you can. He rarely responds to emails which is extremely frustrating. He does not provide practice exams or questions so you work extra hard trying to figure out which questions might be on the test. Lectures are not engaging. Lecture slides are poorly written and need to be deciphered. Curve is generous, though.
Gives all the material needed in lecture slides, and lecture slides tend to be better than other professors that I've had at Rutgers. Exam was information that was taught on slides. He talks a little slow and somewhat monotone though, so it might be a little hard to pay attention for the full 1hr 20min.
He knows what he's talking about. He gets annoyed at repeatedly unnecessary questions(rightfully so). Very generous curve. Assignments take lots of time so start early!
I don't understand why Menendez gets so many bad reviews. Lectures were interesting and Menendez streams and records them for people who can't make it to class. Menendez was always welcoming of questions, even if it is a repeat question. He also let us redo one assignment and even submit it in January when the semester ended on December 23.
Cutoffs as follows: A = 85, B+ = 76, B = 62, C+ = 53, C = 44 (determined by class average). He is smart and his lectures are interesting, but the C projects are ridiculously hard compared to what is learned in class. Auto grader used, you get 1/2 of test cases. You'll have to study hard for exams too. Nice during office hours, not so much in class.
If you go to lectures and do the projects it is an easy A. CS314 covers a lot of material but he explains it well. There was plenty of extra credit opportunities and a heavy curve
The projects are like solving some P=NP bullshit. Hard as hell, inconveniently placed (one of the projects had a majority of the work time during spring break.) Not only that, while he expects us to work hard during breaks, he takes the entire semester to grade anything. It's the end of the sem and he JUST finished grading pa2. Hope curve is good.
I took this class because I heard from many people that its a "must-take" for a CS major. While I learned a lot, this class is truly a mess. Its mental warfare with the projects given. Menendez doesn't care about whether we are actually prepared for the projects. TAs grade slow and extremely harshly. Skip this class with Menendez for your sanity.
disorganized as hell
This class is a mess!! He is a decent teacher but horrible at managing the course. Grading is at the mercy of the TAs and usually takes a month for them to grade a project. The final grade was split between 3 projects and two exams (final and midterm). The projects were way too hard for the material being taught in the class.
While he was decent for Comp Arch, he ended up being a complete mess for Systems Programming. Projects take forever to get graded, and even when they ARE graded, they often have to be regraded because of errors in the autograder that give the class 20% averages on assignments. To his credit, i will say his exams were fair, and he curves heavily.
His lectures are not that good. The writeups are super vague so it takes a lot of clarification to understand what he actually expects. His grading on the projects is really harsh which causes the class median and average to be quite low. Hes rude when asked questions sometimes in lecture. Overall just a nightmare. Really good curve though.
This class was an absolute disaster. 3 insanely difficult programming projects as well as a midterm and final. An auto-grader is used and you get no test cases. TAs took weeks to months to grade projects. Exams were fair. Menendez was beyond disorganized for this course and it essentially set you up for failure in return. Get ready to read to pass
This course is tough, you really need to understand what is being taught throughout the lecture. understand the codes he uploads. Exams are pretty straightforward and easy. Start the projects(hard) when they are released, you might face some hardship, so you need all the time given to complete it. He is always behind on grading & dates are TBA.
Menny's 214 class is a total shitshow. Spring 23, he changed the last two assignments with poorly written instructions. In addition to that, he has little to no communication with his TAs, who grade very harshly in assignments, and sometimes do the opposite of what Menny expects you to do. Curve was 77 -> A, 64.5 -> B+, 55.5 -> B, 30->C, 17->D.
Even though this class was a disaster the curve he gives out make sure that nobody fails. The whole semester consisted of 3 projects 1 midterm and 1 final. I wouldn't be surprised if someone get a 20 on the last project as it is the hardest and the class avg in project 2 and 3 are usually astonishingly shitty.
I had a bad experience taking this class, not because Prof. Menendez taught poorly or because he didn't present the material in an effective manner. I learned a lot in this course. The reason I say I had a bad experience is because when it came to grading (whether that be projects or exams), everything fell apart. Other reviews expand on this.
He is very smart and experienced, so unfortunately he thinks things are easier than they are on exams and assignments. He bites if you ask trivial questions, but he seems to have mellowed out over the years. Generous curve.
Had Menendez for Comp Arch, Prin Prog, and Systems. The worst thing about this teacher is that he never posts practice problems for his midterms and finals. Studying for them involves going through a laundry list of red herrings. Sometimes he's also disorganized with assignments, too. He has a good curve, though.
People said he is a douche when people ask questions but honestly he didn't seem to be like that for me. Assignments are not bad but are VERY LONG. The exams themselves aren't too bad either but he provides 0 practice questions or exams so you're basically just sifting through hundreds of slides for information unfortunately.
Can't believe Rutgers lets this continue. Class was a disorganized mess. Lectures slides are useless on their own. Must attends to grasp his material. I love CS topics but this class was a chore to get through. No partial credit. Do not take.
His projects are extremely tedious and take forever to do. On their own it could be manageable but we have 3 other classes we are also studying for at the same time. Lecture slides are poorly worded, no practice problems for tests, and grades take forever. Projects are also confusingly written at times. He said the curve is good though.
He's a friendly dude and is very passionate about CS. Also very friendly in office hours. I know his lecture style is unpopular but I find how he teaches (typing in a text editor) easier to follow than slides. However, assignments are not very well defined and their autograders sometimes do not work, leading to stressful regrades. Exams are okay.
Avoid him if possible. His lectures are good but boring, as he just types into a text editor. He's rude when asked questions. The class is very disorganized, different TAs grade differently and they don't provide feedback. There were only 3 assignments and 2 exams, so there's no room for error. I still learned a lot, and there's a good curve.
Treat this as a 3.5 rating. Very friendly, talks like a CS student, and contrary to some reviews here, he is NOT condescending when people ask questions. He is just direct (uses the word "no"). Unfortunately, disorganized. Networking assignment got cancelled since we were low on time (he got COVID; not his fault but not handled in the best way).
Menny's 214 is not for the faint of heart, but there is something satisfying about learning such an expansive curriculum. I learned more in this class than 111, 112, and 210 combined, but that comes at a cost--namely, the projects are brutal, but you will appreciate how much they teach you. Four stars bc no grades two weeks from the end of sem.
week away from finals, not a single grade in, lectures = bad, goes very fast, acts like you should know what he's talking, gets annoyed when you ask him dumb questions, All assignments must be done with a partner, assignment details are not very clear, projects are extremely long/time consuming, He has a friendly demeanor though
The professor's lectures were adequate, but the midterm exam content did not align with the lecture material. Additionally, no grades were released throughout the semester, including during the reading days and after regular classes concluded. This made it challenging to gauge progress and prepare adequately.
Basically, you're on your own in this class. He goes over the few basic stuff covered in the chapter but you would need to study and learn yourself for the homeworks, midterms, and final! He doesn't go over the homework or the midterm review or even a final review! Take the class if you like teaching yourself the material!
Be ready to learn by yourself He acts like you already know the stuff he is teaching, Boring lecturer!! Haven't got any grades of project one week before final!! Don't take CS214 with him!!
No grades are posted till a week before the final. I don't know how this is even allowed. The only reason I got an A was because I bet the graders don't even grade and just threw out random numbers and I got lucky. Absolutely 0 information on any of our project grades couldn't even work with feedback.
Super easy course if you're good with programming/Linux. It's mainly project-based and you can have a partner but it's honestly easy enough to solo it. Very late/disorganized grading though. Professor clearly knows a lot about low-level programming so if you're into that then his lectures are interesting, but he doesn't take attendance or anything
Class overall was alright. Projects were interesting and intensive. Grading was slow and awful. Content was pretty cool and seems very useful for industry. Exams were fair. I never found Menny's lectures to be effective so I never went. Good class to take to hone your programming skills and craft
Never answers emails, exam material rarely matches up with lectures, and grading scheme on projects is ridiculous, considering there's no rubric and no test cases. Not a single grade was posted till the week of finals and he blamed his TAs, but this seems to be a recurring theme with him. Absolutely disorganized, don't take anything with him.
People generally hate on Professor Menendez, I disagree with that assumption. While he can lack empathy at times, he teaches well. If you just pay attention, read, take notes, reference old exams that are online, you'll be fine. I really enjoyed taking Systems Programming. I learned a lot from the lectures and projects.
Compared to past reviews, he's lightened up this semester. Yes, his lectures can be a bit monotonous and may not always make sense. But he's a lot more relaxed, funny at times, and answers questions adequately without rudeness. Projects aren't too crazy, and grades come out at a reasonable time. Midterm also had material that was taught in class.
I love the way he teaches, he just infodumps everything he knows into a txt file while narrating his thoughts, though I realize that this is a minority opinion. There were only 3 projects and 2 tests that decided the final grade which isn't ideal, but other than the amount of work needed to complete the projects this class has been a lot of fun.
Horrible! He literally just reads off slides. Even if go to class it is hard to understand what he is teaching. If you try to look at the slides in your own time, you won't even understand most of it. I learned more from Youtube that I did from him. Avoid him and take anyone else!
I had the worst experience of my Rutgers career in this class. He is visibly annoyed at questions during lecture. Do NOT expect any type of study guides for the tests worth 50 percent of your grade.
Lecture was straightforward and he does a good job explaining the concepts. He'll answer questions in class but does get annoyed if your question is off topic. He has 2-hour office hours twice a week but he doesn't really respond to emails. The exams were fair based on the topics he taught. Any disorganization seemed to be from his TAs and not him
Lectures consist of him talking about topics and writing everything down in a text file which he uploaded to canvas after every class. Three projects that are all manageable by yourself but you can work with a partner. Easy midterm and final each worth 25 percent of the final grade could bring one page of one sided notes.
Grades are split 50/50 between exams and C-based projects. The exams match the lecture material well, and the slides are all on Canvas. Projects are pretty doable with plenty of time to finish, and the grading cutoffs are lenient. The content can be interesting and is definitely important for understanding core CS concepts.
Dry lectures, so dry that it was hard to attend lecture. Uploads exact notes from class on canvas so lecture attendance isn't neccessary. Midterm 25% Final 25% Projects 50%. Study for the exams because one bad grade will put an A out of reach. TAs slow for grading as always with menny's classes because he takes too long to give them the rubric.
He's a chill dude. Study his slides in detail and you will do just fine in his class. He's a bit monotonous but is very knowledgeable. He's organized but grading for the assignments was slow. More than enough time for the assignments and he gives notice of the midterm pretty early. Not a lot of practice material for the final but it wasn't too bad.
Gave a huge curve at the end of the class which wasn't even needed but he is just too nice I guess. Lectures can be a bit dry sometimes but he is very knowledgeable and will answer questions if you ask him during lecture or office hours. Spends time in lecture going over exam material before exams, and project material when projects are released.
Not a bad professor, but the lectures can be extremely boring. Recitations were useless, and half the time, the TA didn't even attend. Programming assignments were fair, and the exams might seem straightforward, but the TAs can be harsh on grading. However, he was very generous on the curve. As long as you know all the topics, you should be fine.
Challenging class, but the projects are interesting. Lectures can be hit-or-miss, so Unstuck AI was a lifesaver for study prep. Grading is disorganized, but the content is useful for industry.
There was a generous curve at the end, however, the class was pretty difficult. The exams were tough and the TAs graded pretty harshly. The beginning of the semester was disorganized because there weren't any TAs which caused the class to move at a weird pace and we also had an assignment cut out.
he answers questions well, he's definitely knowledgeable. i stopped attending lectures after a while because it's just him writing on a text file which he posts after class. projects were interesting and clearly described, a little bit challenging. make sure you choose a good partner -- i had to do all our work myself.
Get a good partner with this class. Professor writes all his notes in .txt files making self study very easy. Exams are very lenient in terms of grading and there is a curve at the end of the class. Fall 2024, the semester I took the class, had very high medians (90 on projects, 70 on exams) compared to other semesters. Responsive to questions.
It's not an easy A but it's not super hard. The curve usually helps people. If you need to reach him you have to go to office hours. You should always check your midterms because graders made a lot of mistakes. Grades take a little while to come back. He's kinda sassy to some people, he was nice to me tho.
My only criticism is that he rarely responds to emails. His exams are fairly straightforward, and he even lets you bring a cheat sheet into the exam. The projects are going to take time, but are fair. I took him for both CS211 and 212 and got an A both times. VERY generous curve at the end of the class
Very smart guy. That being said, he assumes that his students are as smart as he is. His projects and tests are difficult. He's not really available outside of class, so make sure you ask him during lecture. Overall, decent professor. Just keep up with him and ask worthwhile questions.
Literally just infodumps into a text file and doesn't to emails pls avoid if u can
I don't understand the criticism of his attitude, because he actually answers all questions with patience and is actually quite nice. The only problem is his lectures consisted of him talking and typing sentences into a text document, which was not really an effective way of learning. The assignments and exams were fair in difficulty.
Lectures aren't very useful, big curve at the end of the class. Grades very slow, doesn't post any material to prepare for exams.
I took this class knowing people complain about the way Menny organizes his courses. Unsurprisingly, my assignment grades came out 2 days before finals. However, he's a great professor-- definitely knows his stuff. GO TO LECTURES and ask questions. Exam questions seemed fair difficulty wise, but they were all open-ended.
It was alright, does not deserve all the hate. They were very nice when grading the projects and exams, the averages for the class were very high for every single thing.
Great teacher in a difficult, weed-out course. I did not go to class much but can say that it's just a very challenging course. He's objectively a good teacher and a very nice person.
Insanely disorganized class. Lectures weren't helpful at all and felt like a fun facts session more than an actual lecture (coming from someone that listened and took notes every class.) Projects and exams required self study from start to finish but were doable. Did not give enough time for the projects for the amount of work required in them.
The lectures were dry, but luckily everything gets posted online so you can just skip pretty comfortably. Recitation optional as well. 50% projects 50% midterm/final. Absolutely 0 respect for students' time. Assigned projects without giving enough time on occasion. Class averages were very high with fair exams though, so overall the A is free.
Prof. Menendez is a very good teacher; his explanations of C and low-level architecture are thorough, cohesive and delivered in perfect English!!! (rare for Rutgers). The midterm and final exams include code-on-paper, so you'll need to put in real effort to do well, but his class is absolutely worth it.
made me hate coding in C, made me hate everything computer architecture. please save yourself and don't take him if you're someone who's dependent on a teacher to pass a class. i passed but i fought for my life to
The class is not as bad as Algos, but it's not great, especially that one project. Most people get to phase 3 or 6 of it, but I finished, and it took ALL my time for two full weeks. Exams are hard, but doable. Projects are hard, some not doable. This professor's lectures are not very helpful. And speaking to him outside of class also isn't helpful.
There are 3-5 projects and the rest of the grade is exams. Exams are very hard. Projects are very hard to do right, and perfection is pretty much required to pass the class. Hard cutoffs, had to retake class for a 69.5%. Unhelpful lectures. Unhelpful Canvas. No updates on Canvas, and VERY slow grading.
Menendez is very dry and pretty by the books, but he is very knowledgeable about computer architecture and went through examples multiple times for students who were confused. His class is hard and the projects MUST be started early if you want a good grade on them, but its doable and manageable. Tests are not heavy on coding, more regular problems
Simply underrated. If you can't read your assignment requirements stop complaining.
I have had Menendez for two classes now, and I can confidently say that you need to stay focused on the assignments. The assignments are very important, and doing badly on them means you will not pass. The tests are not particularly difficult and more closely resemble trivia exams than coding exams, as they are filled with random questions.
David Menendez is a RACIST. he said "ik its tight in here, hopefully you all showered" now MIND YOU this is the most indian dense state, and the subject is statistically indian majoritied (computer science). I thought this was unprofessional. he posted the review questions for the final a day before, contains wrong answers (watch out for 4b-e)!!!!!
david menendez is a RACIST. on the day of the final he said 'ik its tight in here hopefully you all showered' excuse me???? MIND you this is the most indian dense state and the major is primarily south asains. he also only gave us review q's the day before and they had multiple errors that were very misleading (watch out for 4 b-e)!!!!
poor teaching skills, cannot keep students engaged in lecture, and focuses on teaching info that is irrelevant on exams, HW, and in careers. review session before exam is helpful tho. recitations were very disorganized; none of my classmates attended. final was very fair & reasonable.
I did not do well on exams and only passed because of projects. So, try your best at every project and also do well on exams.
Monotonous lectures, but he's down-to-earth and accessible. Homeworks are very difficult, so be sure to do well on them or else you won't pass. Tests are also difficult but they are mainly conceptual, trivia-type questions with little-no coding. Also, the curve is negligible, so don't rely on it and do the best you can.
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Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
14%
Textbook Required
0%
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