2.2
Quality4.1
Difficulty24%
Would Retake169
Reviews24%
Would Retake
169
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
169 total ratings5
18
4
15
3
20
2
44
1
72
What Students Say
“His grade cutoffs are generous as well”
M427L - 4.0 rating“Talks a lot about theory and not a lot about examples”
M408S - 2.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
5%
Textbook Required
15%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Stable
-0.05 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH5518
5.0
(1)M365C
5.0
(2)M341
4.0
(1)M302
3.0
(1)M328K
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
M374M
5.0
M408S
4.5
M408L
4.5
408L
4.3
M408K
4.2
Reviews (168)
DO NOT TAKE! Hardest class I have ever taken. Only class I have ever failed in my life. I got an A in 408C and could still not understand what he was explaining. TA was not helpful at all either and could not even explain all the homework questions. Tests and quizzes were not an accurate representation of the homework that I spent hours on.
Tests were extremely difficult. Class average was 52 on the first test. However, he said that the tests were to weed the less able students out of the class, and the tests became somewhat easier. I started out failing (59 on first test) and came out with a B
DONT TAKE THIS CLASS. His teaching is hard to follow and his office hours are useless because he makes you feel inferior. Everything learned from the TA and tutoring. The first test was extremely difficult. The only plus is that he curves the grades. I didn't pass any of his tests but ended up with a B-.
As long as you do the work, you should be okay. Dr. Rusin is hilarious (so much so that I look forward to his 8 AM class), and you're not going to find another professor who does a dance to explain multivariable calculus. I don't know why other raters don't like him, because I think he's great!
DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!!! His lectures are nothing like the exams and his poor TA had trouble preparing us for them because Rusin would just pull random questions out of thin air! He is lazy and would always run out of time and wouldn't ever review material. He also tests over textbook material never discussed in class. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Rusin is a charismatic guy and knows what he's talking about. However, his lectures do not reflect the homework or tests. He also makes the tests too long. If you absolutely must take him, be sure to take a GE too because you'll need all the help you can get.
the hardest calc class i have ever had and also the most confusing
Lectures are totally useless, he works one problem and then tries to teach the key concepts in the last two minutes of class. You would be better off not going to class and learning the material on your own. There is no way I would take him again. You don't know what you're going to get until the semester is over since he (might) curve at the end
The class material is difficult enough, and Dr. Rusin's explanations during class are subpar at best. I really relied on the TA for this class in order to learn the material and finish quest assignments. Often times he wouldn't go over stuff in class that was on the homework for that week. Difficult to understand during class.
Loved his class: he did an excellent job of teaching the materials, and responded well to feedback about his midterms.
Rusin is a good guy, but his ability to teach others that are not familiar with the class is just too poor. I would recommend taking another professor as he's very unclear in his teaching. Even his office hours were not as helpful as they should have been. Everything, the homeworks, tests, all were just extremely difficult.
Rusin is not a good professor. Thankfully I took calculus in high school, so I was able to teach myself. He doen't lecture because its a flipped classroom model, so you can teach yourself off of the modules. Basically, don't take his class if you have the choice unless you're confidant that you can teach yourself.
Intro to Math was not as easy as it sounds. He clearly has an intrest in Math, but he failed to make his class organized. He never made a syllabus until asked, and homeworks on Quest constantly had errors. Tests were very difficult even though my class persuaded him to let us work in groups. At least this is only math credit most will have to take.
Rusin knows his stuff, but he does not seem able to be able to teach it to students. The material went over most student's head and he was not helpful in office hours. Take another professor if at all possible.
Rusin is smart but seems unable to teach it to his students. As a result it's extremely hard to learn the material and his tests are quite different from the homeworks. I would recommend trying to switch professors if at all possible.
I had to teach myself...the questions were unnecessarily difficult...Lectures are pretty much pointless. I got an A in 408C. He's a cool guy, but bad teacher.
DO NOT TAKE RUSIN. He takes the full hour of class to go over ONE problem from the homework. ONE PROBLEM. He is not helpful and unless you teach yourself you will not make a good grade. Had to go to tutoring three times a week because he wouldn't teach. And he doesn't have office hours so forget that. PLEASE DON'T TAKE HIM
You can tell he really knows his stuff, but it is still very difficult to understand the points he tries to get across. He would often focus too much attention on a particular problem and then not tell you the answer. Homework isn't too bad, but the exams are unnecessarily difficult and some required materials are not covered in class.
I do not see why people complain so much about professor Rusin's teaching style. He's very interested in the subject, and you can tell he truly cares about his students performance. His tests are fairly long, but you can tell he wants you to succeed. His grade cutoffs are generous as well.
His Linear Algebra class is largely a waste of time. He likes to teach it his own way and tries to get you to "understand" the material, often spending multiple lectures teaching something as simple as row reducing matrices. Large amounts of material left to you to learn by doing homework.
I wouldn't recommend Rusin unless you can teach yourself Calculus. Class time was useless since he'd spend more time going over something unrelated to what's on the tests and ends up confusing everyone. Not very helpful in office hours; makes you feel dumb. 3 tests, quest homeworks, and final. His cutoffs are generous; otherwise, I'd avoid him.
Rusin is like the usual math professor at UT: only teaches theory but tests over actual problems. Even though this is an applications class, as opposed to M 341 (theory), he teaches SO MUCH THEORY. He is very enthusiastic about the material but really digresses from the actual point of this class. Wouldn't recommend.
Lectures are useless. Takes the whole class to go over one problem. Added with that, the online notes (it's a flipped classroom) don"t help. Be ready to self-teach. Tests consist of 5-6 multiple choice and 2 free response, so you miss one problem and you're down a full letter grade. The class is on a curve, but not a very good one. DO NOT TAKE!!!!
Dave discouraged me by insulting my attempted problem solving and suggestions. He didn't share information with his TAs so they couldn't help us prepare for tests. The tests themselves seemed to be on information not discussed in class and certainly not like the homework and learning modules. You teach yourself in his class.
This was the hardest class I've ever taken. Tests are not too long but more conceptual than the homework and expect to go to CalcLab a lot and teach yourself throughout the semester. Lectures are too theoretical, boring, and it takes a whole period to go over 2 problems that he lets students workout amongst themselves. Nearly died from this class.
He spends a lot more time on theory and not very much time on actual problems, especially things that we find on exams. The TA taught us more than he did in lecture, but I will say that his office hours helped. Also, he makes a lot of his exams multiple choice because he's admittedly too lazy to grade, so any error can kill your score.
Dr. Rusin is a brilliant mathematician and his passion for the subject definitely shows. Learning in the class is done mainly through the "flipped classroom" method which I didn't enjoy. Lots of homework, and tests are not easy and very long. He curves at the end of the semester. Biggest complaint I have is that he sticks to one problem all class.
Because of the flipped classroom, he does very little actual teaching and spends more time on useless theory. He gets through one or two problems a class. Office hours aren't useful because his explanations are not helpful at all. Tests are difficult and long, and the curve is a little low. The TA was actually excellent and very helpful though.
Lectures don't translate well to the tests at all. Gets sidetracked very easily and will spend periods on examples instead of actually teaching stuff that will be on the test/homework. Grading scheme is awful. The way the class is set up it is almost impossible for more than 1-2 people to get an A per class. Very unresponsive to email or phone
This class is a flipped classroom so you do a lot of the learning on your own. Dr. Rusin is very knowledgable on the subject , but doesn't teach it very well. Talks a lot about theory and not a lot about examples. His grading criteria sucks. 1/7 of your grade is from homework, 1/7 learning modules, 1/7 quizzes, 1/7 per test, 2/7 final. HARD
Rusin is clearly a gifted mathematician, but not the best lecturer. He gives the most impossible examples to work on during class, and gets easily sidetracked. I ended up skipping most of the lectures and attending the T.A.'s discussion section instead. HOWEVER, he made the exams easy enough and he makes a lot of "dad jokes."
He is very passionate about mathematics, but his lectures are kind of hard. He also starts teaching about stuff that were not used on the test or homework. The homework's are relative hard, but the tests are easier.
Good energetic prof, willing to help and answer questions but not many resources available, lecture not recorded. Subject matter is hard. Grade consists of online pre-class learning modules, quest homework, in-class discussion quizzes, and exams. All exams are curved based on whole class performance but no formula charts or calculators are allowed.
Dr. Rusin is a genius, but you have to put in a LOT of effort. It is a super hard course, but it is doable. He is very approachable.
Dave means well, and he can be somewhat funny in a sarcastic way, but his class is objectively difficult. Hes the type of person that's so smart he can't explain things in a way that non-math geniuses can usually understand. He mostly talks about the theory behind the math so you pretty much have to teach yourself how to actually do the math itself
I know most of the comments here are negative but the class doesn't put you at a disadvantage grade wise. He curves your grade and his lectures are definitely meaningful. He's very approachable. I can admit however that he does keep to the syllabus and expect a good amount of hw.
By far the best math teacher I have ever had in my life. Made the material easy to understand and even entertaining. Expect a lot of dancing, big movements and walking on desks. You will not regret going to this class (but you also should since its a bit difficult).
not an easy professor, but he's really good at teaching and you'll learn. His lectures are very engaging and he's good at getting you to want to participate in lecture. I think the tests are kinda hard to finish in time but the grading is fair. Like he graded a test and noticed that a lot of people didn't finish and curved accordingly.
Professor Rusin is hilarious when it comes to teaching math. He'll dance around and try to demonstrate concepts actively. I appreciated that he connected math concepts together as we were learning them. His class was very smooth. Although the learning modules covered what we covered in class, coming to class made the tests a lot easier.
Used the flipped classroom which I personally wasn't a fan of. Rusin is really knowledgable/passionate about Calculus, but lectures are very hard to follow and includes unnecessary high level details. Workload is excessive, but it's Calculus so I get it. Tests aren't actually that bad. If you have a good Calc background, doing well is doable.
Go to his lectures. They are engaging and give you a good understanding and appreciation of the material (I skipped quite a few and still did well, but others may have difficulty). I feel like his grading is fair, but his tests aren't easy. Some complain that it is a reverse classroom, but I feel that most profs at UT are like this or worse.
Rusin seems like a nice person but he is a terrible teacher. He focuses only on the abstract and does not adequately prepare you for homework or tests. There is one quest every week and two closed book/notes midterms that he makes unnecessarily hard. The lectures are pointless, rather just learn the topics online and do the homework.
Great lecturer, although can be long-winded. Ideally come to class having read that week's chapter. Often encouraged students to come to office hours. Tests are very accessible if you do the weekly HW problems plus look at other similar problems in textbook. I definitely didn't get everything, but it was fine. He curves significantly.
Dave tried to engage the students but his lectures focus on abstract concepts instead of practical ones. I would go to lecture every week and not learn anything. His tests are super super hard but he's a fair grader. The quizzes were also extremely hard
Proff is a rather abstract person, he likes to lecture on concepts a lot more instead of actually teaching you how to solve for problems. Hardly writes anything down during lectures, so going to class was kind of useless. This class is mainly self-taught. Homeworks are pretty straight forward, tests are kind of hard, pretty nice on grading tbh
If you're a person who loves to talk about math concepts and have no problem teaching yourself than Rusin is the guy for you. But if you just want to be taught what to do because your major requires this course, then try to get someone else. Rusin is a nice guy and is a fair grader, but self-teaching made going to class useless.
Rusin, simply put, is the best of the worse when it comes to M408D professors at UT. I would definitely recommend choosing another professor with a higher rating, but if you can't, choose him. You can make an A in his class you just have to work extremely hard and redo the homework over and over again until you feel sick. Find previous tests!
There was honestly no tags that fit him. He was rarely on topic in lectures, and I showed up to class every day but felt as if I learned nothing. I am lucky enough to be able to teach math to myself, but if you can't, I really don't recommend him.
If you had Mr. Word from Kealing for geometry, this guy has his personality. I had him for M 408D, grading structure is not test heavy. Horrible lectures but everything was online anyways so it doesn't matter. Not hard to get a good grade.
He is nice, as long as you are intersted in math.
Lectures were meh useless. Class can be done online. Exams unlike anything seen in class and requires a few contorted leaps of logic in order to get the answer.
Awful lecturer, and terrible at teaching. He is absolutely useless. However, our TA, Dan, was very helpful, and the tests were very easy. I didn't even go to half of the lectures, and made an A. Just know you'll be teaching yourself before you sign up, and you should be good to get an A.
Professor Rusin teaching Real Analysis was a fantastic experience throughout. He dedicated time to the class and really went through the material in an engaging fashion. While the class was hard, it was certainly worth the work.
Pretty nice guy. Lectures aren't required and not necessary. He goes too deep into the "theory" of each concept which doesn't really benefit anyone besides math majors. I benefited a lot more going to the TA sessions and just reading Quest. Tests were rather similar to Quest and nothing too crazy, but he still threw some weird questions in there.
Rusin is not a good teacher, but he is not the worst choice for Calculus. I stopped going to class around 2 months into the semester and passed because I taught myself everything. Rusin's lectures are absolutely awful and a huge waste of time, though he can be funny. The TA was very helpful though! I would not take Rusin for a class again.
Funny, engaging, provides a lot of visual representations of concepts so you're almost guaranteed to understand it one way or another. A fair bit of homework but it's not overly difficult, and it lifts your grade significantly. Textbook not necessary, just use Quest. Grading scheme is unusual but fine. Generous partial credit on exam free response.
Rusin was a fine choice for 408D. Most people bashing him admit they stopped coming to class. If you *try* be engaged and listen to his conceptual explanations, they are helpful. Tests are not particularly hard. Grading scheme is weird and can work against you if you want an A. Do the homework and come to class. Our TA was also very helpful.
Great guy and great professor. It's worth your while to attend lecture. Doesn't cover all the material you need to know but the Quest makes up for that. Tests are reflective of the material and homework load is fair.
Don't be fooled by the difficulty rating. The CONTENT is not difficult, but the grading scheme is. Each MC on the midterms are 10 points each, and you will lose all 10 points for a silly mistake. 2 mistakes? Good luck. There is limited extra credit, so try and do well on that. He's a caring guy, but you'll do better with a different professor.
His ability to teach is fantastic 5/7
He knows a big deal of math but he gets too technical into pure math. Little to no time for midterms, almost nobody finishes that.
The material he teaches in lectures is very abstract and higher-level math, the tests are very different from the material in lectures. The tests pretty much follow the Quest HW but you have to pretty much teach yourself for this class. The only redeeming factor is the curve on the test because it's very lenient.
Very difficult class, other 427L professors are far superior to this man. Avoid if possible
Quite literally the worst math teacher I've ever had in my entire lifetime. His lectures are useless and he spends them giving self absorbed rants that do not translate to hw or exams. You will have to teach yourself everything and he provides next to nothing in terms of helpful resources. Avoid this man and his class at all costs.
Professor Rusin is a good guy outside of class and is always willing to help students but his exams are VERY difficult and much different from homework/lectures. His lectures were very conceptual and did not relate to the homework, so you will spend a good portion of your time teaching yourself.
Take literally anyone else, unless you like teaching yourself
Hes a nice guy, but his tests were much more difficult than the homework or the study guides. Make sure you have your calc 1 skills down because youre expected to do fairly complicated calculations with no formula sheet, no calculator and in a short time. Find challenging practice problems and get good at those. And learn how to parameterize!
Often found his lectures useless and hard to follow, so for the majority of people this is a teach-yourself class. The only redeeming factor of his class is his literally insane exam curves, which make up for the incredibly hard exams (which are the product of an almost unreasonably short exam window).
While Professor Rusin clearly loves teaching math, his lectures are often hard to follow and one is left wondering what they need to know for the exams in his course. Multiple choice problems from quest make up the majority of the test grade and there is no partial credit. The curve is lenient but will by no means carry you to an easy A.
Rusin made 427L unexpectedly difficult. The lectures were useless. Tests did not reflect lecture or homeworks. Tests were hard, all tests were curved. My colleagues in the other 427L were breezing through the class. The thing which triggered me most is when the entire class is failing the tests and Rusin blames us for not trying hard enough
Not the best teacher, far from the worst. Class ultimately wasn’t too hard since most of the grades in the class just focus around quest. Do good with quest and you’ll be alright.
He is a good guy, and I am sure he was a very smart guy when he was young. However, he is not energetic enough any more for the teaching. He consistently forgot things he should do including publishing homeworks. Almost half of our homework assignments contain typos. He is passionante about math, but not good at explaining them.
His explanations are incredibly convoluted. He tries to go too abstract and explains more to himself so that you are blindsided by HW/test questions. Exams aren't conceptually hard, but he often gives nasty numbers + heavy computation + too many questions for the short time + heavily mc. Frequently forgot to publish HWs as well
Lectures were so confusing and it made the material seem much harder than it actually was. His tests are also much harder than the examples in class. Take another professor if you actually need to know the material or do well in the class.
I really liked him as a lecturer. He was clearly passionate about the course which certainly makes it more engaging as a student. The tests were veryyy hard, in my opinion. This was the only class I didn't get an A in, and I accept responsibility mostly, but I do think he was a bit difficult with tests. But just practice problems and go to class!
Actually made me want to learn math.
Dr. Rusin seems to be very interested in his math, but his lectures are not structured at all and are hard to follow. It is pointless to pay attention to his lectures. I highly suggest to find another calc teacher for 408C. I knew going in that the RMP wasn't all that great, but I didn't expect it to be THIS BAD.
Dr. Rusin is easily one of the worst professors I've ever had. Attending his lectures is pointless since he only makes the concepts more confusing and he is so unorganized. The tests are really hard and are made up of problems that his teaching won't help you to solve. Definitely take another professor.
please find a new professor to teach this class, rusin should not be teaching an intro class and it shows in his lectures and tests. class is very test heavy, you are required to do homeworks and learning modules to bring up your grade (because tests are usually hard) and the learning modules are minimal questions so one mistake can drag you down
He explains things very well, and has a sense of humor. He is not that strict, and he gives a generous curve.
He has no idea how to explain calc topics and often makes the topic a lot harder than it truly is. On top of all this his homework and tests are tough. Most of the questions on homework and tests are questions you have never seen or have gone over. Even if you self study these questions tend to be very difficult. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.
he forgets to upload Hw on time and you end up having to cram it because of him. TA hours are VERY unproductive. no notes or calculators allowed on exams. i hate the fact that u got to memorize all trig identities formulas etc. he is there for you during class or office hours and his lectures may be boring but they are useful if you pay attention.
Rusin is not for anyone who has to take other hard classes in the same semester. His lectures teach you nothing and his tests are night and day from what you learn when you study. His TA session are useless and almost no one attends them. Avoid taking Rusin for any calc you have to take.
Many quest assignments--the questions here are way harder than needed to be. Inconsistent with due dates, so be vigilant with due dates and times. Tests aren't easy, but he curves. During lectures, get ready to learn about math history and random tangents. He does not explain concepts as thoroughly as needed. He seems like a good person :/
His lectures are useless because he talks about the history of math. The TA often gives us wrong answers too. Everything you learn is from Quest. He uses videos of another professor to teach the materials. His written homework is confusing and has very long paragraphs. His exams are tough - not the questions from homework or learning modules at all
do not take his class. Difficult assignments and lectures. Almost no one finished his first exam because it was so difficult. He was not understanding and not very helpful when asked about the material. He would often respond with "you should know this". It made him very unapproachable and made it hard to be successful. dont take his class.
Exams were complicated, had few questions, and required you to apply concepts in more advanced ways than the homework. Lectures are unorganized and mostly unstructured. He's funny and clearly passionate about what he teaches but for an introductory calculus class he is not the teacher to take.
Rusin is a great guy who loves to make dry humor jokes; however, the exams and material are very hard. You are expected to know every formula/identity from previous classes by heart and cannot use a calculator during the exams. He does give a very generous curve on tests that bumps you up about 10-20 points. Overall good guy but a difficult class.
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There's a reason why there are so many bad ratings on Rusin.... Ever since the beginning of the semester, I always had a weird vibe about his class structure. I ended up switching to M305G because of his exam difficulty. Please don't take this class without prior knowledge of calculus. TAKE ANYONE ELSE BUT RUSIN
His lectures can be confusing at times but he explains some concepts well. As for exams, be sure to redo your homeworks on Quest as the multiple choice is taken from there. There is little room for error on his exams. He cares that you understand the material, but it is an uphill climb if you have not taken calculus before. Go to his office hours!
Dr. Rusin knows math. He just can. Not. Teach. His lectures go unnecessarily in depth on simple calc 1 subjects and then his tests are insanely difficult and not over lectures. Take any other 408C class if you can. He doesn't even post grades throughout the semester so you have no idea what your grade is. RUN far away and send me help for the final
Although he does show a considerable amount of knowledge in his field, Rusin just cannot teach! He often goes off on random tangents that only slightly relate to the subject matter.
He assumes the students know everything already. His tests are insanely hard, but his curves bump almost 20 points so that students pass. When we all did poorly on the first test, instead of making the lectures more manageable, he increased the amount of homework. He doesn't teach, he just shows videos of a different professor. TA was unhelpful.
As an engineering student, Dr. Rusin's lectures were not that helpful to me as he mainly focuses on the proof-based side of calculus. Although I had already taken (and did well in) calculus before this class, I walked out of most lectures confused. My previous calculus knowledge and the TA were the only things that helped me in this class.
The lectures, homework, learning modules, and tests are all somehow unrelated. Furthermore, the lectures often become long tangents about an irrelevant topic. Dr. Rusin is a very knowledgeable professor and is very passionate about math, however, I would not recommend taking his class if this is your first introduction to calc.
Dr Rusin is not a good professor to take if you have not had a calculus class before. 66% of your grade is from 4 exams, 3 midterms and one final. He is very disorganized. Tests were hard, not like the homework, but he curves them all. The rest of your grade will be from homework which he will randomly drop on a weekend night.
We received learning modules that taught us everything outside of class, and during lecture, he would talk in circles and make everything more confusing. Doesn't update grades. Very unorganized- frequently forgot to post assignments and changed his grading criteria. If I hadn't taken this class in high school I probably would have done a lot worse.
Kind of bad at lecturing, but his homework and tests are really easy. Also gives very generous curves.
Amazing Proff would take again.
Honestly, Dr. Rusin is a cool guy he just isn't a very good lecturer. It's clear the subject comes super easy for him and it makes him frustrated when you don't understand it. He curves a lot and very well (essentially it moves the average to 85). All of the grades are weighted the same from learning modules to tests, grades are buffered.
His lectures are useless, you learnt everything from tests. He also sometimes insults students , but he is a very lenient grader and his tests are fairly easy.
He wasn't a bad prof by any means, but his lectures were so hard to follow. He taught simple calculus topics in such a weird way, that if I was learning calc for the first time, I would've done a lot worse. Also the tests were barely curved if at all, like maybe 1-3 points if you're lucky. He was fine, but not the best.
Proff. Rusin may sometimes be hilarious, but the biggest joke is the class itself. I do NOT recommend him as he doesn't teach concepts very well. The material he teaches in the class is almost completely useless, redundant if one must say. I learned way more from Quest than I ever did going to class. There are LM's, HW, and 4 exams worth 1/6 each.
Avoid! I have learned close to nothing from him. His random lectures serve as little help for the difficult Quest homework. In discussion with my TA, he can hardly solve the problems given. Barely any review resources are given and he inputs homework randomly so it's easy to miss assignments. He can't put in grades to save his life.
He spent so much time in class talking about unnecessary things. When we finally got to math problems, he sped through them. We were supposed to be given written homework to practice for FRQs of exams, but he never assigned them, so the first time we saw freehand questions was on the exams. Rusin is hard to follow, and his class makes me anxious.
Professor Rusin seems like a good guy, but he is not a good professor. He gets irate during office hours if you do not understand the material and the lectures that he has during the week are not helpful. They just rehash what we do on quest on not a good use of time. Highly recommend to never take Rusin as a professor
If you haven't taken calc BC before this/have some background knowledge in calc, I would drop this class. He does an extremely poor job teaching the course material and spends most of lecture talking about random unrelated subjects. He assigns lengthy "learning modules" before lecture and multiple quest assignments every week. Run while you can.
He is not a good professor if you have not taken AP Calc BC before. His lectures are usually rants on random noncorrelated topics and the tests are very difficult.
If you have taken calc before you will probably be okay, you will still find it annoying. He cannot teach and I could not imagine taking his course without taking AP calc in high school. His tests are part MC and part free response. But for some reason on the free response he writes aggressive notes on your paper when you make mistakes.
M408N not listed.
Rusin gets a bad rap, and I'll admit he wasn't the best lecturer/ teacher. But he's super funny and if you DO THE HW (genuinely put the time in and try to understand), you'll succeed. Tests are very fair with HUGE curves! Most people who do bad Chat GPT the hw then try to learn it b4 the test. Don't do that and you'll be fine :) rework hw to study!
His reviews scared me because I didn't take calc in high school, but if you put the time in and genuinely try to understand and work through the homework, you'll be fine. Curves are VERY generous, and the hw prepares you well for the test. Time-consuming but very doable.
NGL I did not show up to lecture/discussion often, I just did the litany of Quest homeworks (and even forgot to turn in some Lesson Modules) and dragged my grade up with good test grades. When I was there, lecture often spiraled into unrelated topics (still math stuff). However, he's a cool guy that I wish I met outside of a required Calc 2 class.
He does give a lot of homework, but the TA is there to help with questions on them so it's not a big deal. Most of the learning is through Quest learning modules. He is aware he sometimes makes hard tests so the curve is pretty good. His office hours are really helpful and he cares a lot to help make concepts make sense to the students.
DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASS WITH THIS PROFESSOR. He's a great guy, but it is extremely difficult to learn in this class. I went to all the lectures and discussions and barely learned anything. Homework's were very difficult to keep up with since there were sooooo many due in short periods of time. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.
Most difficult math class I've ever taken. Plan on spending double the time outside of class to learn the material. Lectures do not help at all!
I think half the time I was learning off Organic Chemistry Tutor. Going to lecture was useless because he'd ramble and then do one single HW problem for about 40 minutes. Very hard to learn from him. He offers a generous curve (+10-30 depending on exam score); I got a B though because I slacked off, so DONT do that. Actually learn the material.
Professor Rusin's class is achieved at the expense of your blood, sweat, and tears. His lectures are completely unfair and his teaching style is extremely unorganized (he used pre-written scratch pieces of paper for work for his lecture notes). He isn't extremely clear on what you need to know. Quest LM and Homeworks boost your grade for sure.
Take someone else if you can--lectures (attendance not required) is just him going on tangents, so most of the learning part comes from quest videos. Homeworks are difficult (the TA helps with them in discussion), exams are insane but there's a generous curve. Overall, Rusin is chill but can't really teach so probably not a great intro calc class.
He is not a good lecturer and fails to explain concepts to students. The tests are extremely hard and include concepts that were never taught. He does only one problem maximum in a lecture and does not provide any other practice besides the quest homework.
His lectures are useful if you're struggling but you can still catch up on content if you miss a day or two. He gives awesome written feedback on FR questions on exams. The curve on exams was actually insane avg about 20 point bump in grade.
Dr. Rusin's teaching style was terrible for a course of this rigor. You must teach yourself from the learning modules (difficult) and homework (difficult and lengthy) because his lectures consist of little to no teaching, only theoretic tangents. My suggestion is to attend all TA discussions and do the work on your own time. Tests are not too hard.
Professor Rusin can be hit-or-miss, but if you engage with the material and use tools like Unstuckstudy, you can do well. The lectures are disorganized, but the tests are curve-friendly. Overall, a challenging yet manageable class.
Very impersonal class. I felt that lecture did not help at all and taught myself most of the material, as did many people. LOTS of hw and learning modules, I suggest checking answers before submitting. Exams are hard but doable. While I dislike him as a lecturer, his class was well organized and doable. Overall, subpar prof, hard but doable class.
Calc 2 was a breeze compared to his class. The curves are the only thing that make the class salvageable, lectures are not useful and most times he doesn't have a clear organization of what to cover during class. He goes off on tangents and spends too much time working problems that will show up maybe once on the test. His FRQs are crazy too.
Rusin really makes an enjoyable class. There's really no dull moments in them. Others may complain about the tangents, but they really add personality and a different way of viewing test material. There's a lot of virtual homework and learning modules, but they really boost your grade. The tests are incredibly challenging, but his curve is generous
DO NOT TAKE RUSIN. I am in Organic Chemistry and Genetics and Rusin somehow made 408D harder than both combined. His lectures are useless unless you love watching on 6 different sheets of paper and enjoy tangents unrelated to the class. The HWs are long and do not let up even on exam week; he gives shit advice and essentially told me to get better
Rusin is a terrible lecturer and gives out unnecessarily difficult exams that you cannot realistically completely prepare for. Don't listen to whoever tells you the curve is generous (it only is if you fail dramatically). His only redeemable quality is that he's nice.
This professor is the worst. Makes you want to quit Math and expects that your entire life is only Math. Drop the class as soon as possible. Worst professor in the UT Math department.
Worst professor. His lectures are rushed, cramming three units into one class while he often digresses into irrelevant details. He gives minimal guidance, forcing us to learn almost everything on our own. Beyond the poor structure, he was consistently rude and unhelpful when approached for assistance. Avoid this class entirely. Seriously.
Lectures are largely conceptual and contain tangents that are not tested over; it is unclear what you are or are not responsible for understanding. Thus tests are almost impossible to prepare for. Few example problems are worked through in class, so you will be forced to teach yourself. The curve is almost nonexistent unless you fail miserably.
Rusin does not teach via formulas or even direct answers in lecture, he goes on long tangents and lacks good examples. He expects everyone to be math majors. To pass this class you must teach yourself the content (including every sly trick or cheat), and lack the need to study for other classes. If you value your GPA, find another prof.
I Q-dropped his class he was horrible. I saw the rate my professor and thought "Im smart I can do it." WRONG. he rambles forever and makes the exams as hard as possible because he wants it to be a "learning experience." Ive gotten high A's my whole life and got a 49 on my first exam. I took BC calc and know the material hes just horrid. DONT TAKE!
i dropped his class it was horrible dont take him
i seriously think the only reason he teaches is because he does research at ut. don't listen to the people saying its not that bad, unless youre a tryhard and all you do is school you wont do good. hes hard to understand and expects you to do 5hr of homework a night. if you take him expect to have no life.
Rusin just genuinely makes the material way more confusing that it has to be in his lectures. The only reason I'm doing well in this class is because of the learning modules on canvas, which weren't even created by him. The tests are fairly normal difficulty, but you basically have to teach yourself everything if you want to succeed.
He cannot explain the concepts in a way that students can actually learn them. All he does is go off on tangents on very hypothetical things that are not useful. I took Calculus BC in high school and got and A, so I assumed I would be fine in this class, but he makes it much more complicated and generally cannot teach. You will be teaching yourself
Having taken Calc BC in high school, I knew much of this content going in to the class, but Rusin makes everything more confusing than need be. His lectures make no sense and are very unclear. There is A LOT of homework, even on the day before a test. Class only gets more confusing once you get to the multivariable section. Avoid this class!
So he definitely knows what he is doing in his lectures. He glosses over the chapter for Integral Calculus. However, to pass, you need to do the homework. The exams are identical to the homework so if you are someone who prepares early, this class is for you. Warning as exam 1 and 2 are 50% and 60% average. I studied for 2-3 hours a day for a week.
He's a sweet guy... but if you haven't taken calc before, DON'T TAKE HIM. I took calc in high school, so it was a pretty straightforward class, but he doesn't know how to lecture at all and will go on unrelated tangents about things that he finds interesting rather than the content he's supposed to be teaching. At least curves are good?
alright guys, buckle up for this one. i came in to this class thinking im the goat, had all A's throughout my high school career (i was on top of the world). Nothing could have prepared me for this professor. NOTHING HE SAYS IN LECTURE HELPS YOU. BRO WAS TALKING ABOUT PETRI DISHES AND WOLVES. grades increased after i stopped attending lecture tho
Professor Rusin is the worst math teacher I have ever encountered. His lectures are absolutely worthless. He assigns a heinous amount of home work and learning modules that do not help you learn at all. He is ok at best during office hours and if you don't have an amazing t.a. you are doomed.
This was the worst math class experience ever, he went on so many theoretical tangents, lectures were literally useless, discussion sessions were so unstructured and we just had to do our homework. If you're decent at self-studying, do not waste your time by going to class - just do the Quest homeworks/reviews because he uses those for exams.
Do not take this class. Dr. Rusin's lectures are basically just tangents over random, irrelevant math theories and he makes no effort to prepare you for his exams. There are 5 homework assignments due every week which can take HOURS. The exams are incredible difficult and he refuses to curve them, even after both exams had an average of %50.
Genuinely the worst math prof ever. He's a nice guy generally, but HE CAN NOT TEACH. He's one of those people who is so smart that he doesn't know how to explain the content. Did literally 30+ hours of outside tutoring and will still probably make a D. Also, there are so. many. homeworks. They take forever too. Hope he curves the course.
I just want to start by saying that my low rating is not because this class is hard. This class is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT and requires HOURS of studying/work. Professor Rusin's lectures did not help me at all during this semester and had just talked about nonsense during them. There are so many homework's and test averages are around 55. CAREFUL!!!!
Guys. Beware. David is an interesting character, but he cannot clearly explain anything for the life of him. When questions are asked, he never answers them appropriately, and he starts talking about what he is doing in his other classes. He refused to take accountability when he asked what went wrong on the exams and just deflected and blamed us.
He is a nice guy, but his lectures really aren't that helpful. You're better off teaching yourself and using the homeworks which are a direct reflection of the exams.
I thought David structured a good math course based off calc2/3 concepts. The easy in class assignments gave us a 10% grade swing . Although the HW's were extensive, they were pretty representative of what was shown in the exams. His lectures weren't too bad either. Overall not a bad teacher and someone who cares about the success of his students
would recommend if you literally want to tear your hair out from the amount of work you'll receive. hes a chill guy though, nothing personal against him. also tests are super hard.
Something is wrong.
praying to GOD for a curve on this class. David is a nice dude, but man he cant teach at all. tests are difficult, and there was an obscene amount of homework. felt like no matter how hard i tried i couldn't succeed - wasn't much help when i brought this up in OH either. tests uncurved, despite the awful averages. hoping for course curve.
Horrible professor, I truly regret taking this class. He refuses to embrace modern technology, lectures consist of watching him live transcribe derivations on printer paper as he talks. Poorly prepared lectures which would be tenfold better if he just learned to use 3d desmos during the multivariable topics lol. Don't take!
Professor Rusin is a kind guy, but he sucks at teaching in front of a class. Half the time, the lectures don't really make sense, and you never really know what the purpose of the lecture was. All attendance is optional, so skipping lectures really makes no difference. I will say, though the his office hours were helpful. First exam was bad...
He is a really nice person and extremely smart, but he can't dumb things down in lecture. Kept repeating throughout the course "now you guys know as much as I do." It isn't impossible to succeed in his class, it was just very hard for me to, as I was taking many credit hours. Make sure to spend time doing the hws and fully understand them.
This class was pretty tough. The class average sat around a 55 for Exam 1 and 2, so they changed the final to replace 2 lowest midterms. His lectures were him writing on a piece of paper, but overall they did help me understand the topics. Use the textbook and TA's to pass this class.
You will have a hard time in his class if you do not remember past calculus topics well. He provides homework problems that he will fail to discuss in lecture. His lectures aren't helpful whatsoever, and he will want to test you on abstract math. It is possible to pass. He is a nice person, but he will NOT make it easy.
Dave cannot lecture. Half of the class would never show up because his lectures are always horrendous and full of tangents on things that we did not need to know. He is very abrasive and if he thinks a question is stupid he will let you know. Tests are unnecessarily hard, but he does curve. Genuinely made me loose my love for calculus.
This class was basically a teach yourself type of class, except the exams were insanely difficult. That said, the exams are curved and they are doable IF you practice a ton of homework questions. It is possible to get an A, but do not treat this class lightly if that is your goal. Rusin's a nice guy though, and he is semi helpful at times.
Tough but fair professor.
Could rely on more lectures and less homework, and very tough with grading tests, but other than that M 408D is a hard subject regardless of who teaches it.
DONT TAKE. I use to think I was good at math before dave. There are no curves on any of the test. The class averages on the first tests were 50 and 60, and that was with a handful of people cheating. He seems like a nice fella, but he speaks in riddles. Not one lecture did I walk out feeling I learned something. Shoutout to Organic Chemistry Tutor.
lectures are a waste of time. tests are hard but there is a massive curve if you do really bad. do the learning modules. 3 midterms, final, homework, and learning modules are each 1/6 of grade.
This was definitely a challenging course. Lectures are very confusing and irrelevant to course material, and professor is rude when you ask questions. I had already taken Calc II at a community college, so I thought I had a solid foundation. Despite this, I failed every exam. Luckily, Dr. Rusin gives generous curves, so “technically” I passed.
I've taken through linear algebra in high school and wanted to get a minor in math. I dropped that minor because of this class. David's really nice and VERY smart. But since he's so smart, he is simply incomprehensible. Genuinely did my bio homework in that class every lecture. I like Dave, but maybe higher level math would be best for him.
Rusin is the worst professor I've had. I went to every single lecture (although many didn't) and it was a waste of time because he is a genius who cannot explain topics in a simple manner. I took calc BC and got a 4, yet this class was my biggest struggle despite already "knowing" the content. I do not reccommend unless you want to spend 10+hrs/wk
Avoid Rusin 408D. He's a poor lecturer who routinely goes on tangents instead of covering the actual material. Would highly recommend skipping lectures and self-studying. The textbook is good, and he assigns tons of Quest homework, which the exams are heavily based on. Best bet tho is to take another prof. 408D is alr tough, dont make it harder
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Textbook Required
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