2.2
Quality4.0
Difficulty25%
Would Retake100
Reviews25%
Would Retake
100
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
100 total ratings5
12
4
12
3
12
2
28
1
36
What Students Say
“It is appalling that UNLV still allows Phanord to teach (if you can call it that)”
MATH431 - 1.0 rating“He's a very sweet man and brilliant”
MATH181 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.74 avg changeRatings by Course
MAT723
5.0
(1)MAT365
4.5
(4)MATHMATH
4.0
(1)MATH663
3.5
(2)MAT283
3.3
(3)Difficulty by Course
181
5.0
MATH463
5.0
MATHDIEU
5.0
MATH126
5.0
MATH306
5.0
Reviews (95)
Bottom line is avoid him at all costs. Not only is he hard to understand, but he gets mad at you if you don't understand him. He also gets off on putting students down if they are having a hard time.
he'll give you a "c" with minimal effort put forth.
He was a very challenging teacher, but wanted to separate those serious with there degree. I recommend him to anyone who likes to be challenged and who want a very clear understanding of calculus 3.
I had him last summer, good professor. Would take another math class from him any day. His accent can be hard to understand sometimes, but it made me pay more attention and I absorbed a lot more. If you get an A on the final, you get an A for the semester.
I took Math 124 over the 3 week summer course. I found his class to be interesting and not to terribly boring. He tells a lot of stories and is sometimes humorous. I pulled a B- in his class but did study alot. He is an easy grader. Make sure to do all the homework.
This is one of the best instructors I have had. He is friendly and really cares that students do well. If you are trying to just get through the class and not work hard don't take it. He will help you if you can help yourself. This is a very good instructor.
He was so helpful to me. Take advantage of his office hours, he will see that you are making an effort and he will be more willing to give you the better grade. He is very nice as long as you have good attendence, be on time to class and do your homework. I would take him for another math class if i had to.
No Comments
The easiest course in the whole department has been made the most difficult class this semester
If this subject matters to you & you're willing to put the work in, then take his class. He recognizes hard work & the willingness in the person. I took his 4 week class & I never worked so hard in my life but it was worth the grade & the satisfaction I got at the end.
I was hoping that this class will be interesting but the teacher changed my mind. He could do better than this, and teach the material instead assuming that we know.
Took his math 124 class over the summer. He's a nice guy and very helpful can be hard to understand at times, but hes more then willing to go over the material over and over till everyone understands. His tests are a bit tricky, but he grades very farily and will award points even if you mess the entire question up.
This man is a pretty good professor overall. He can be difficult to understand because of his thick accent, and sometimes he gets ahead of everyone as far as the lessons go, but he's also a very merciful grader. I say, take this class over the summer if it is all you need to fulfill your math requirement.
You have to have ESP to pass this class because his tests do not cover the lectures or the homework
Don't understand/
Horrible teacher. He does not explain anything, and assigns a 10 page paper about a scientist that has nothing to do with calculous. I have never before had a problem in math, but this teacher has just ruined it. He doens't expain anything, he gets angry if you disagree with him or ask him why a paper was assigned. DROP THIS CLASS!!!!
Dr. Phanord is a pretty good professor. He is hard but the class in general is hard. He cares for the success of his students but doesn't just throw out the answers at them. He wants you to think, so get ready. Many students were doing bad in his class and he let us improve our grade with our final. Just study hard and keep up and you should b fine
Awesome professor. His accent is very heave so pay attention.He wants all his students to pass, but is challenging. He passes out copies of exams a week prior to exam date. Took over the summer, well worth the intensity. The online hw is horrible and so time consuming.
Dr. Phanord will challenge you to do well; it is not an easy subject but he is a pretty easy grader on exams. His accent is tough to decipher, but I found it help me to pay more attention, because. He will pick on you in class if you doze off or sit in the far corners!
No Comments
DO NOT PICK THIS PROFESSOR!!! I think he knows what he is talking about, but just because you know a subject well doesn't mean you can teach it. His accent is hard to understand.(very thick) He calls you out in the middle of class when he knows you DON'T know the answer. His tests are so much harder than what he teaches in class. HORRIBLE.
Not a good teacher! He doesn't follow the textbook but goes off on tangents unrelated to the material. Only a midterm, final and 10 page research paper make up your grade. I'd pick another professor for calc!
He is a nice guy and kid of funny, but his tests are pretty hard. well they don't match up with the book and sometimes don't match what he teaches. makes math 124 harder than it should be.
Disappointing instructor but cute accent.
Are you serious?
awful teacher! his exams dont have anything to do with what he teaches. He is really confusing; cant get his point accross. Goes way too fast to understand what he is doing.
Very nice guy, passionate about math. Tests are not hard at all, he reviews them class before. I took a three week course and did well, regular semester classes are probably easier.
Genius.
Difficult to understand due to his accent, goes very fast through things. I first had him for undergrad intermediate algebra and he started the first class by writing in calculus notation and barely taught anything from the book. One of the worst experiences I ever had and only kept my 4.0 avg, with an A by using an outside tutor for the 1st time
Clear as mud.
One of the best teachers in the math dept. Tests can be hard but is a generous grader if you make the effort. I'm burnt out on math classes but he kept me interested. I'd take him again for sure. If you belong to the entitlement generation like half the people that comment on here and think you should get an A just for showing up, don't take him.
Demanding, but very fair teacher. The paper he makes you write is whack, but when you think about it, it's an easy assignment to have a bulk of your grade based off of. The subject is hard, but he won't test you on anything that wasn't gone over in class, and he gives lots of packets with step by step instructions. Work hard, and an A is possible
Wow. Not good. Just wow.
i don't understand why there are some people say he is a good teacher. he did not teach anything in the class, he late for class every time. the worst thing is, in his class, he just tlaked about his "glory day". i remeber the last spring term. i did not finish his job. the entire chapter 4 he just read for us! what kind teacher he is?!!?!?!!??????
He is a good teacher. I learned a lot in his class. If you listen to him, you will learn. Also, he is very helpful if you really want to learn he will sit in his office and teach the material. He doesn't teaches from the book but his approach is better. If you want to be a mathematician, I recommend taking him.
Horrible professor. He does not teach out of a book so you can't keep up with him. When you don't understand what he is teaching he gets upset and starts yelling. I am getting tired of hearing about how hard it is at other schools and how we are spoiled here. He also talks about race and religion too much for a math class. Worst teacher Ive ha
Needs to simmer down and just teach the class//
Usually I can tolerate most math professors because I'm really good with math and can fill in the gaps. He is a terrible professor. He goes waay off topic too often and this class does not adequately prepare you for later engineering classes (unless you're willing to teach yourself everything else like I did...)
Good teacher, however everything in the book should be disregarded. His tests are incredibly difficult but he awards plenty of partial credit. Grading system is imbalanced. Personally, I would avoid him even if Calculus is your second language.
NOT very patient & NOT very nice a very grumpy curmudgeon
Dr. Phanord was quite a character. Thick french accent though, so if it's difficult for you to understand accents, I wouldn't recommend Phanord. He was really helpful and gave our class a study guide for the final and let us retake a test. Did horribly because I wasn't applied, but if you read the book and study as he suggests, you'll easily pass.
He's accent makes it hard to learn and he gets distracted often he tries his best but don't recommended
He's very helpful he will go over the subject over and over before moving to the next chapter. Student who wants free grades needed to go back to high school. This is college level you're need act like it.
He's a brilliant man, but not so great as a teacher. Not good at explaining things. He magically obtains solutions and expects us to understand. The people that think he's a good teacher are crazy, or math majors. ...Or liars.
don't/
Dr. Phanord is a brilliant man, but a horrible teacher. His class had no structure. There were several times where he barely even taught. He was either telling long stories or belittling the intelligence of his students. He's not very clear on what he wants his students to learn and doesn't care if they don't understand.
Well, not so much . . .
French accent, but it becomes easy to understand after a week or two. Jumps around the book. Gives practice tests that look very similar to the real tests. Seems very hard at first, but he's not bad.. (I was ready to quit on day one haha)
He won't teach you anything, and his tests are really hard. However, he does give you practice exams that are similar to the test. Homework is 100pts (only ch review), midterm is 200, and final is 300 points. Attendance is mandatory and he kind of sounds like yoda.
He is among the nicest math professors in the department. He really wants his students to learn and gives them every opportunity to do so and to be successful. Highly recommended!
Don't bother. You're better off taking an online math class.
I dont always rate professors, but when I do, its because they're horrible.
Genius
Horrible teacher, his class was basically useless. He spends half of the class time telling unrelated stories & only do 1 or 2 examples per class. He expect you to learn everything reading the book, which is very hard for math.
NOT a good thing full stop
. During the first class it might seem that he will be drilling you testing your knowledge on what you know but he just wants to get an estimate on what level of mathematics you are at. Attendance is a must. "Key Point" when he says this was on the last exam or says something similar to it write down that particular problem and study it.
HE BARELY SPEAKS ENGLISH. I literally could not understand a single word he was saying. Need to drop the class pronto
Stay away!!!!!! Please please I am warning you. His English is broken and I can not understand it at all. I have to drop and swap to another class. Math 124 is a basic class. But he made it like math 250 or something. Terrible!!!!!!
Very knowledgeable and passionate about his subject but he expects too much from lower level math students. Also, it is hard to understand him due to his accent. If you're taking him for 124 drop now
DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS! He's teaching material at a calculus level in an algebra class. Most of his tests were things we have not learned. He expects you to know everything. At the end of the semester he crammed in a bunch of chapters before the final. We never followed the syllabus. He's an intelligent man but not when it comes to teaching.
Don't take this class. He doesn't teach material in the book, his tests are nonsensical, handwritten, and don't relate to course material at all. If you go to his office hours he says to ask in class then doesn't help you. Expects everyone to put n 30 hours a week for his class. Unclear, unhelpful, hard to understand, you'll waste money and time.
RUN AWAY FROM HIM. The class is horrible. Probably the worst math teacher I ever had. Huge accent and hard to understand. Tests are not Algebra at all. He does want students to do good in class. But wrong method used. His class was the biggest challenge in college.
Do not take him. He is unclear, does not provide help in his office hours, has a very thick accent and is hard to understand. He's very smart but he expects everyone to know what he knows, and does not help. It's supposed to be easy (I took calculus in HS!) and he made it WAY too hard. Save yourself the anguish, money, and time and don't take him.
Older guy from Haiti with thick accent. Horrible at conveying an idea. Class is supposed to learn off in-class discussions amongst one another so don't be afraid to speak up. IMPORTANT!! If you do NOT drop the class and get at least a 'D' on the final exam, HE WILL NOT FAIL YOU. He rewards students that do not drop. If just trying to pass, TAKE HIM
He speaks very poor English and often times seems unable to understand his students or the complaints people share with him. His instructions aren't clear and it doesn't seem he realizes the class is for people with a beginner's understanding of Calculus. He will teach concepts several levels higher without sufficient explanation.
This man is a mathematical genius, with many qualifications that would seem appealing to any math program. But, being a genius and being a good teacher don't always coincide. He rarely explained any concepts in depth, and instead spent lecture talking about the necessity of mathematics. He should definitely have a symposium rather than a lecture.
Lots of group work, and even a group take home test. Must go to class, but this is true with any math class. Get an A on the final, get an A in the class. Ridiculous amount of focus on parametric equations, even TA said had not seen before in math classes. lots of example tests given as homework that closely resembled actual test.
He is one of the worst teachers I have ever had. That said, he is a very sweet man. He truly cares about his students but teaches very little and spends most the class giving metaphors. I learned absolutely nothing and am screwed for calc 2 but got an A because I was in a smart group. Pick your group wisely because they will save you.
He's a very sweet man and brilliant. HOWEVER, he assigns random assignments. Takes a while to get used to his accent, still hard to understand. Makes countless errors, expects us to be perfect. His exams are insane. Spends most of class on pointless small talk. TA's don't know what he's teaching. Spends too much time on parametric equations.
DON'T TAKE HIM. He doesn't know how to teach. Wasting time on telling off-topic stories instead of explaining problems clearly. When students ask questions, most of time he couldn't answer clearly. When he grades tests, he would take all points off even if you got the process right.
While the man is knowledgeable when it comes to math and other sciences related to calculus, he unfortunately is not a very good professor. To receive an A for the course I pulled all-nighters at least 3 nights a week. Calc 2 is a dreadful subject, and to have him as a professor exacerbates the toughness of the course. BEWARE.
super nice guy, very sweet. His class was the hardest class I've taken, but he makes you work for the grade received. ALOT of studying outside of classroom, and be ready to teach yourself the whole subject.
Absent more often than present. Very annoying personality. Get ready to teach yourself math from one of the worst math books every produced. AVOID AT ALL COSTS
I would of never thought that a class could be such chaos. The root of the chaos is Phanord. He honestly did not show up to teach for five weeks. He does not give you much feedback. His lectures consist not of him going through differential equations, but rather whatever is on his mind such as stories. You left to teach yourself.
It is appalling that UNLV still allows Phanord to teach (if you can call it that). His lectures (when he decided to show up) were off topic and ridiculous; he gave no feedback, had ambiguous due dates, and made massive mistakes on the few occasions he attempted examples. This class wasted my time and money and made me lose faith in academia.
I would prefer it if he stayed on topic with his lectures, and did more examples. He likes to go off on philosophical tangents. He has realistic expectations, and genuinely wants to build students up, rather than tear them down. Show up for class, participate in discussions, and ask questions and you will do fine in his classes.
He knows the knowledge well in this head, but doesn't know how to reciprocate it back and teach the class in any way, shape, or form. He also has an extremely difficult accent to understand, which makes the class impossible to learn anything on top of the fact that he doesn't teach the class anything. The TA in the discussion class is the grace.
I took this class with him over summer during COVID and boy was it a mess. Attendance via zoom is mandatory, but he can not teach well. I did not learn anything. Homework and tests are done in groups, which is probably the only good thing about this class. If you can do this class online I would it's easy but don't expect to learn anything
This was one of the worst classes I've ever taken. He didn't seem to care whether we learned the material or not. He would not make assignments to submit on canvas and then complain that we were emailing him too much. Multiple people in the class complained to the director and he made a joke about it and nothing changed. Group hw,tests and essay :(
Worst professor I've ever had. Actually made me consider dropping out of college.
With no exaggeration, the worst professor I've had in my life. Entirely and completely unprofessional as well as tech illiterate. He would lecture about Jesus and marijuana during our calculus class and become upset when asked to get back on track. Would randomly speak French. Threatened security on me when I didn't know the answer to a question.
He was the worst experience of a teacher that I've had yet, granted it was an online course. Consistently late to class or a no-show without telling you. Grades are good in his class because he boosts them. If you want to learn about a course do not take him, if you're looking for the grade then it's whatever. Nothing was ever clear on what to do.
UNLV's math department is broken. Why else would a man like Phanord remain employed? HE DOESN'T SHOW UP TO LECTURES. This is exactly why I hate tenure - lazy people like Phanord can get away with not working.
Shoutout Summer Session 2 UNLV for having us all survive
For starters, Dr. Phanord is (respectfully) old (age around 71). That means his teaching style is incredibly out of date for the current generation. It was pretty stressful to deal with a not tech-savvy professor with linear algebra. Also, BE WARNED, he will be 15 minutes late to his class more often than you will ever wish for.
This course was a complete waste of time and money. The lecture notes were frustratingly hard to read, grading criteria was confusing, and the TA's "discussion" class didn't even allow students to ask questions that'll help them understand the material. Would not recommend for anyone wanting to have a deeper understanding of differential equations.
I did not learn anything from his class. SOOO difficult to follow. He teaches like we're supposed to know the answer already, I would've been better off going on youtube and teaching myself.
Very sweet guy, but not a good professor. Spends a majority of the lecture asking everyone if they understand the material (hardly anyone does), who's absent, and if we're okay. Only positive is that we're allowed to work in groups on the homework and some exams. Also not good with technology and wastes a lot of lecture time.
Avoid like your life depends on it. The reviews here are not exaggerated, Phanord is dismally bad at his job. Frequently shows up late/not at all/cancel last minute, I think he came to class drunk once. Clear that he puts no effort into his teaching. Will spend more class time on asking you what languages you speak than talking about math.
Best professor if you want to become a space scientist.
Dr. Phanord is a great Professor. Study the book on your own and come to class prepared with questions. If you cannot teach yourself from the textbook at this point perhaps it is time to consider another major.
Go NASA! This class was great, and Phanord was one of my best professors. His lectures were always great and there was always something to look forward to. I like how he constantly interacted with his students, which improved the class since it always had you on your seat. There's so much more I want to say about Phanord but I definitely recommend!
Mad chill.
By the time I had him as a professor, he's really up there in age. He was slow moving and a little senile. Most of the class time was spent talking about his life, how math is important, and that he can speak many languages. Worst part is he almost had a stroke in the front of the class. Entire class learned nothing but he gave everyone free A's
This professor was extremely unprofessional ive never been so disrespectful in my whole college experience she does not care for her students and she does not keep up with her grades and never replies to emails her syllabus is extremely confusing and unclear would not recommend extremely difficult
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Textbook Required
100%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.74 avg changeRatings by Course
MAT723
5.0
(1)MAT365
4.5
(4)MATHMATH
4.0
(1)MATH663
3.5
(2)MAT283
3.3
(3)Difficulty by Course
181
5.0
MATH463
5.0
MATHDIEU
5.0
MATH126
5.0
MATH306
5.0