the worst teacher i have ever had. hard to understand. no lecture structure at all. very confusing. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!

Awful class - he is impossible to understand or follow during lecture, homework and exams all require twice the time given to complete. I feel like he didn't actually teach us anything - the TA's were far and away better teachers. Do not take Discreet Structures from this teacher unless you have prior experience with the material!

Worst teacher at the U. I'm surprised he hasn't been fired yet. Utterly disorganized, his lectures are more confusing then they are helpful. Discrete Structures should be one of the easiest classes, but he succeeds in making it WAY more complicated because of his horrible teaching. Writes his own textbook, but it is never complete... Dodge Ganesh!

I dreaded everything going to this professors class, very unorganized and made comprehension of the material very hard. I feel like he made up his lesson plan as he went along.

Worst teacher ever. Not only do you have to read from the official textbook, but you also have you to study his own cs2100 book and even sections of his cs3100 book. The structure of this class is ridiculous. When the class average of the first midterm is 63 you know something is wrong.

Ganesh is teaching mainly 3100 concepts in the 2100 class. His class organization consists of 2 lectures of material, and a couple lectures of review of the first 2, and a test. 5 tests total. Worst part, the lectures are incomprehensible. I'll dutifully take notes and find I've only drawn circles on my page (not organized at all). Avoid taking.

I looked through all his reviews and said "He can't be that bad." Well he is EVERYTHING everyone says and worse. The workload he assigns is disproportionate to the points he gives. e.g. I had to write a full 1 page summary of a concept. Not bad, except that it only counted for 5 points in ONE homework assignment. That's only the beginning. AVOID!!

DO NOT TAKE GANESH'S CLASS. Take it at SLCC, transfer to another university to take it, it would be worth the trouble. He has no concept of time. He assigns you 10 pages of homework and then expects you to be done in 2 days. His lectures and textbook (that he wrote) are confusing and stunted. 4 midterms + a final. Worst class I've EVER taken! EVER!

Lectures add more confusion than clarity, same goes with the "textbook" that he wrote. He makes up terms you can't google for more information. His homework assignments are full of typos and the questions are extremely difficult to parse. CS2100 has tarnished my opinion of UofU SOC. Ganesh should take a few writing classes before he teaches again.

You must come to class having read the 10+ pages of that chapter you will be discussing in class (every lecture). His classes don't make sense and HIS book is pretty hard to follow. On top of being a boring class and subject, the homework assignments are pretty difficult and require you to re-read the 3+ chapters you read in the past two weeks.

The book you read (the one he wrote and isn't finished writing), is very hard to understand. I've had to reread chapters several times just to give up and go watch a youtube video on the subject. It's hard to avoid taking one of his classes, so my advice would be to make the rest of your classes super easy that semester to make way for the work.

Probably the worst class I've ever taken, he is a very nice guy, but he often talks above the level of student's understanding. He also wrote the book so there wasn't a fresh perspective on any of the material. The grading was all over the place and I had to spend a couple hours just understanding what the homeworks were asking

Tons of online lectures via youtube videos. Tough to know where to get started with course material

Worst CS teacher at the U. Has a very backwards way of teaching concepts that's really hard to grasp. Heavy accent, lectures are almost useless, and he also writes his own textbook. Assignments make you do many hours of work for very few points. Avoid him if possible. I'm serious. Change your degree plan if you have to. DON'T TAKE GANESH

Do NOT take this class from Ganesh. The homework took the full 2 weeks to complete. No one was able to fully complete the midterm. You will have to learn most all the concepts on your own because his way of explaining does not help. He writes down concepts and moves one before you can even take notes on it. Worst class I have taken at the U.

"Ganesh is the best teacher in the world" -said no one ever. AVOID AT ALL COST Confusing, hard to follow, cant explain lectures problems very well. Witch is sad because he will pull class problems and use them. His wording is so confusing. Literally has typos in exam question that change the whole problem.

His lectures are terrible. He will draw the same picture four to five times and explain it the same way. To make things even better, he will only ever use one example, and since he wrote the book too, there is only ever that example. Then on the exam and homework the questions are not related to The Example. The class could be easy in better hands.

Great person, terrible teacher. He understands the material but does not explain it clearly. I stopped going to class and relied heavily on the TAs. The homework is long and takes too much time. He wrote the book and doesn't provide answers to any of the problems. Expect to be spending a lot of time on your own trying to understand the concepts.

Want more work than a 3 credit class warrants? Love adjusting your schedule for TA time to get your answers? Desire an unapologetically incompetent lecturer? Ganesh is your man.

Horrible, one of the worst classes I've taken. Completely unorganized, posts new papers/discussions/announcements several times a day and it's all worthless. He understands the topic but cannot teach. He acts like MATH3210 is a pre-req, but it is not. He expects you to learn way too much. This topic is hugely important in CS, I feel cheated.

Ganesh published his own textbook, but it is extremely unhelpful. I spent hours trying to figure out how to do an assignment and got nowhere with the given materials. TA hours barely got me any further and I had to seek help outside of the course materials. I got a few assignments together, but it was way too hard to keep up and had to drop.

Incredibly disorganized, one of the worst classes I've taken at the U. The content is interesting and pretty important, but this professor does not know how to instruct a class.

Ganesh is smart and obviously cares greatly about the course. That being said, the class is still a disorganized confusing mess - one of my least favorite CS courses I've ever taken. Requires a ridiculous amounts of work for a 3 credit class, with extremely lengthy readings, quizzes, and homework. Plus he cannot teach well at all, don't recommend.

Common Ganesh quote: .. oh I think there is a mistake on my slide. And then he proceeds to waste our class time to try and fix it. Disorganized. He says its a flipped classroom, but the only way to learn the material outside of class is to read the confusing textbook. If this class was not required, I wouldve avoided it like the plague.

Ganesh Gopalakrishnan is a man who is very educated in his field and has even written his own textbook on the subject. However, his textbook is impossible to read if you don't have prior knowledge of the field. He doesn't explain the subjects in his lectures and expects you to understand the concepts just from him doing examples. I don't recommend.

Ganesh is definitely a smart instructor. However, his teaching style is all over the place. He often goes through a example by mumbling and then ends the example by saying, "Wait, thats not right..". His homework is often unclear and he has to reword things on the assignment every time because people are confused. Never been so confused in my life.

Worst professor ever. dude CANNOT teach. very very disorganized class. even the tas themselves give me misinformation and ganesh barely has office hours each week so i barely have any opportunities to get help in this difficult course. please avoid at ALL COSTS.

The worst CS class in U of U. Never taken any class like this before. Confusing textbooks, disorganized schedule. It is not a hard class, but it is a class that will mess your schedule for whole semester! It is 3 credits class, but the amount of homework and quizzes looks like it is 5 credits class!

One of the main challenges with professor Gopalakrishnan's teaching, is that he does not explain things well at all. The assignment instructions are very wordy, and most of the time make very little sense. The main reason for this, is that he is not very good at english. He has a strong accent as well, which makes lectures difficult to understand.

Does he clearly understand the material? Yes. Does he do a good job of helping others understand the material? Nope. The lectures were very bland and I struggled to learn from them. The organization was a mess and grades were a nightmare. Exam scores were constantly adjusted for everybody due to poor performance. Do not recommend.

This is his field of research and he knows what he is talking about, but 28 polls/mini-quizzes, 11Quizzes, 9 Assignments, 2 Midterms and a Final make the class feel more difficult. I learned from reading the book than from any lectures(attendance was made mandatory mid-semester). He does care, but the structure of the class could have been better.

This professor was easily the worst I've had in college. Both myself and other students were constantly lost on practically every aspect of the class. Expectations were unclear and inconsistent throughout the entire semester. The average on the final was around 55% and this was with a curve. All the other reviews are accurate so just be ready.

His lecturing style is ineffective and lacks clarity, leading to difficulties in understanding the material. Furthermore, their grading practices are unfair and lack transparency, causing frustration among students. Additionally, their classroom management skills are inadequate, resulting in a disruptive learning environment.

This professor presents a considerable challenge as an instructor. Their teaching approach tends to complicate and create confusion for all students. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this professor to others.

Not a fan of the instructor, and with this being such a core part of CS curriculum, it was frustrating that there weren't better options -- and I can't help but think a lot of students leave the major of this class. I went to get help during office hours, and he wheeled his chair to the door and slammed it in my face.

When you ask a question on piazza he just tells you to reread the chapter instead of actually helping explain it to you.

Class is a mess, assignments feel rushed and likely made within 15 minutes. Language on assign, quiz, and exams is horrible and confusing where not even the professor knows what they were trying to ask. Be prepared for your assignments to be "patched" constantly possibly making you rework it, procrastinating the assignments felt like the best way.

Dr. Ganesh is the worst professor I have taken at the UofU. Extremely unclear grading policies, useless lectures with forced attendance, and horrible management skills. His quizzes constantly have errors, his policies are never clear, and hw doesn't cover what it needs to. Teach yourself everything if you want to understand. Avoid at all costs.

I'm not someone who normally posts written reviews here, but I figured Professor Ganesh warranted one. Prof.Ganesh as a person seems quite nice and helpful, but his lectures leave a lot to be desired. Course material is taught in an incoherent manner and often requires external reading to understand. His online resources are even worse: be warned.

Ganesh is easily the worst professor I've ever had full stop. If you need this class done and are thinking you can tough it out, don't. Wait a semester. He is AWFUL. The content is easy, but this professor does all in his power to hinder your progress/learning with abhorrent wording and a terrible classroom management. Changed midterm date 5 times.

Before I signed up for this class I read the other reviews thinking that he cannot be that bad. But he is. There is not much I can say about him that has not already been said. His class is extremely unorganized and is increasingly getting more and more frustrating. He is a nice guy and obviously knowledgeable but this class is a nightmare.

I wanna be as kind as possible here, so let me start but saying that ganesh is kind and cares. The issue is that his lectures consist of long meandering rants and not lectures. Get ready to learn from anybody but ganesh if you take this class because his lectures are pretty much useless. If he locked in and structured time better he could be 5/5.

He was consistently having to change homeworks, quizes, and even test questions because of mistakes. He wrote his own book but the class but it is so confusing and poorly written that even the TAs recommend reading Michael Sipsers book instead.

Ganesh is a really caring guy and nice guy. Unfortunately, he is terrible at lecturing and making any sense in his assignment instructions. He is forgiving with his grading. The assignments are extremely difficult to understand and are a mess. His class is a mess. The content is far easier than he makes it to be.

The theory SHOULD be incrementally building into this distinct vision that will make you a better engineer. We instead meander on tangents so strong you'll think you're back in calculus. Concepts are poorly linked together. Much of the class is spent on his pet project Jove, using python - a context-sensitive programming language to build CFG. Yup.

The truth is "Worst CS Professor" is a tough competition here at the U, but Ganesh takes the cake handly. It's sad, because he clearly knows what he's talking about about, and seems like a nice guy, but I literally cannot understand him when he speaks, or most of the questions he writes. The university wants to film his lectures to show though

Not much to say about other reviews, but the main problem is that he talks and writes in away that verges on something that's not english at all. And almost all of the positive review i could find here have some "Ganeshisms" in them, so take that as you will

Lectures are incredibly hard to follow, homework assignments tend to be poorly phrased and need lots of clarifying questions and there isn't good study material provided either. Ganesh is a super nice guy, but it's hard to get clear answers from him when help is needed. The TAs are truly carrying this class.

Very difficult to understand his lectures, on top of that, his lectures are disorganized, and the assignments are so poorly worded that the professor had to publicly acknowledge it on piazza... This class is already so difficult conceptually, and having a professor like this only makes the experience that much worse. WORST PROFESSOR.

A nice person, but lacking in every way as an instructor. Lecture slides may as well be in hieroglyphics, and he teaches as if we already have a solid background with the concepts. In addition, lectures themselves are incredibly disorganized and his default response on Piazza is to "read the textbook". His TAs and Sipser teach the class better.

Without a doubt the worst professor I have had. Disorganized, confusing, convoluted, and a terrible communicator. One TA Sathya is carrying the weight of the world on his back and is teaching more and better than Ganesh is. Most of the class will be spent trying to read sentences in a language that looks like English but is mutually unintelligible.

Ganesh is a disaster of a professor. I agree with most of what was said here, but he is just incompetent when it comes to lecturing. Most of the time is spent trying to understand what he is asking for on homeworks/tests, while he mumbles through barely coherent explanations and quizzes filled with errors. The worst professor I have taken so far.

wow........

The world would be a better place if Ganesh did not teach ever again.

It's gotten to the point where we're not even surprised when he makes the class worse. Some of my peers have taken to saying "average Ganesh" everytime he makes everything so much worse. He's not even teaching the full material, just the parts he likes. We're not getting a full education and it's all on him.

Useless lecture, not a difficult course, be prepared to self-study before enrolling in his class.

prof lies to force you to attend class

Ruins what is supposed to be an interesting and fair class. He often goes on tangents that aren't at all related to what is on the quizzes and homework. Part of the problem with the homework is trying to understand what he wants you to do in the first place. He's finally realizing that no one has understood him all semester but it's too late.

I feel like I would've understood more if he lectured in gibberish.

I have not hated a class more.

He knows what he's talking about but seems like he just wants to talk about it more than actually teach it. Content isn't that hard but professor made it much harder. Assignments and exams are all over the place.

I do not think there is a better argument against the claim of meritocracy than the tenure of Ganesh Gopalakrishnan. Lectures were incomprehensible, differing wildly from standard curriculum in better classes, sacrificing major topics of the course for useless fluff. Homework requirements were constantly revised ridiculously close to the deadlines.

When I initially registered for this course I saw his score and thought to myself "Surely he can't be that bad right?" I was mistaken. He is that bad.

Very nice guy but the lectures were unclear to the say the least. Half the battle was understanding what he was asking for on the homework and exams. Asks the class if they understand, clearly no one responds and he just nods his head and says "you'll understand eventually" and never touches the subject again.

He changed the course curriculum to be centered around what he likes as opposed to what other professors have done. You should be able to understand and communicate with other people who've taken the class with a different professor. Unfortunately with Ganesh it is so painfully different that it is just not possible. Insane that this was allowed!!!

Listen to the reviews, stay away from this professor! We all have our talents and for some of us that is the ability to teach, unfortunately for Ganesh it is not, but that is ok! He is clearly passionate about the material but that doesn't really translate well in the classroom.

I feel like I took a final for a different class. Dr. Gopalakrishnan completely failed to teach anything resembling what the final was testing for.

Ganesh is the worst professor I have ever had in my entire college experience. He makes you read his book which is incoherent at best, indecipherable at worst. The tests do not match the content that you learn in class. He jumps from topic to topic without explaining them at all. The only good part was the TA, without them there was no way to pass.

Just wow. Very unorganized class structure. Hard to read homework. Understanding the material is not enough because you still need to decipher what he is asking.

vague, error-filled examples mentioned for 2 seconds during incomprehensible lectures will be on the final

He seems like a nice enough guy but struggles with teaching/conveying the material. I found the assignments and tests to be awkwardly worded to the point of indecipherability as well.

I like to believe that he is well intentioned; however, I do not believe it excuses the poor course management as well as the poorly worded assignments/exams. I found that most of the time I was simply trying to figure out what exactly he was asking of me.

Terrible. This class has done permanent damage to my motivation and interest in CS.

Just wow. A terrible professor and a class that was only possible by only reading another book and relying on the godly TA, sathya

Where do I begin? The blatant, insecure inflation of RMP scores via spam flagging negative reviews, or writing his own positive reviews? Maybe his refusal to change the final grade average from failing, despite failing to prepare students for the final? Or maybe him spitting in the face of tenure etc? I could go on for more than 350 chars.

All the other ratings are true. I made the mistake of taking this class because it was convenient for my schedule. Don't make the same mistake as me.

Dr. Ganesh should not teach. Disorganized lectures/assignments. Error-filled quizzes/exams. Extreme lack of communication, other than saying "read my textbook." So many good resources exist for this class, but Ganesh tosses it all aside in favor of teaching it entirely through his own subpar material. Also lied to us to boost attendance. Stay away.

This class was an absolute mess. I have nothing against Ganesh personally, but he's paradoxical in the sense that he seems to care and not care about teaching at the same time. Wrote a textbook and Python library 4 the class yet seemed disorganized at the same time. Final format was weird bc he was too lazy to do manual grading despite having 3 TAs

I really try to respect my professors as fellow human beings, but Ganesh has really pushed me to my absolute limit. I have never been more disappointed and frustrated with a professor who was so blatantly unfair with the way he graded given the fact that his lectures are impossible to understand even to the most gifted students.

Almost made me want to switch majors. He's very smart and passionate about he does, however he's not a good teacher. He's not good at setting a solid foundation and which is critical since every topic in this class builds off each other. Realized towards the end that nobody was getting the material and still didn't help prepare well for the final

His assignments are confusing, and his exams are fully incomprehensible. Finding Dr. Gopalakrishnan outside of class is like playing a twisted and exhausting game of Where's Waldo, and his materials such as lecture slides and exam cheat sheets make little to no sense. His course is throughly bewildering.