3.3
Quality3.4
Difficulty46%
Would Retake113
Reviews46%
Would Retake
113
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
28
4
32
3
25
2
14
1
14
What Students Say
“He's a great person, not a great teacher”
MATH126 - 2.0 rating“But midway through, it fell apart for him”
MATH126 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
44%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.14 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH307309
5.0
(1)RV3
5.0
(1)MATHMATH
5.0
(1)MATH126CB
5.0
(1)MATH124
4.7
(13)Difficulty by Course
126
5.0
MATH126BB
5.0
CALC124
4.0
MATH126
3.5
MATH124
3.2
Reviews (113)
Professor Zhang is always cheery in class and usually explains the material very thoroughly. On our last midterm, the average was a 39/50 which is very good for a class of 100+ students. I highly recommend taking Math 126 from Prof. Zhang.
He taught really well and cared whether we learned or not. He also didn't waste time and used each minute effectively because he prepared each lecture well.
By far the best math professor I've had during my undergraduate years at the UW. His step-by-step approach to problems helped me to understand the materials better. HW and exams are fair in terms of number of problems and difficulty. If he's teaching Math 307 and/or 309, take either one or both.
somewhat difficult to understand in a large lecture hall. but still, that only took a small part away from the overall lecture. take him if you can.
Zhang rocks. Hes funny, if a little difficult to understand. I got the sense that he really cared and put alot into his teaching.
His teaching style is great.
Great guy. Very enthusiastic, but often misunderstands questions and explains something completely different.
He made an otherwise confusing textbook understandable. Explains things clearly, even if he does tend to go through material rather quickly - willing to slow down if requested. Wants his students to do well.
goodddd....
Prof Zhang is a great teacher. He's funny and puts a lot of effort into his lectures. He is extremely helpful in/out of class, and somehow makes the textbook understandable! His tests are pretty hard, but if you study your notes and asks him questions, he's very open to helping you.
He teaches really well. Only problem I've had with him was sometimes I couldn't understand him clearly.
Great professor. Makes sure you understand the material- always asks for suggestions on how to improve the class. Actually made exam 2 harder due to(someone! grr) asking for it to be so. Only complaint is that his pace is very slow- I have done very well on all exams and skipped class many times. Never opened my textbook except for homework.
Couldn't understand him very well- seems like a nice guy, but didn't get much from his teaching.
Professor Zhang is the best instructor I've had in UW so far... he's funny and extremely helpful... he laughs a lot, which makes the class fun and not serious at all... his behaviors are kinda adorable sometimes... :P
Best Math Prof I have had so far. Great Lecturer, explained concepts very well, and he goes step by step. He has a great sense of humor too.
Very good professor, wants to help you learn, knows his stuff very well, very open to questions. Highly recommend
Extremely good professor. Teaches very well and makes calculus interesting. He is cute (in terms of actions), and he's always asking for student's opinion/suggestions to make the class better. He's willing to teach you in office hours too.
Very fun teacher. He really likes to cut out how much homework, your are supposed to get according to the deparmental standards.
Zhang is the man!
funny prof. cuts out lots of excess hwk--makes it easier. midterms are fair, did very well on both, but final is the killer. probably got less than 50% on it..messed my grade up so put LOTS of time into studying for it, they make it extra hard--if u have choice of teachers take him!
Very fun, entertaining, and tries to be as helpful as possible. Tests and quiz material was reviewed and outlined very well.
Seriously amazing. I hate math and everything to do with math but somehow I still wanted to work hard in his class. He's very funny and is ALWAYS open for suggestions to make the class better. He's got a really cute sense of humor and is always happy to see his students in office hours.
He is really nice and really helpful. I heard he teaches right out of the book but I haven't even looked at my book other than for homework. His quizzes are pretty easy as well.
I don't really like Math, so I think the whole course was hard, but he seems extremely easy to appoarch. Review cover most(70%) of the material on the test. Study hard! Final is not made up by him only, so it might be harder than the usual test that he give out.
Zhang is a very good professor! He has a cute sense of humor and class is always fun! He's really cool, i recommend him!
Very clear, easy to understand.
His exams were easy. It is REALLY similar to his practice exam problems. However, he doesn't explain things very well. And his tests were so easy, it made the curves so high (mean was a 86), that it was very hard to get a decent grade.
James is a nice guy, but that has little to do with being an effective teacher. He does not do a good job lecturing and relates concepts to the class very poorly. His first exam was a cake walk, and his second was completely impossible (top score in 300 students was an 80%, mean 46%). Like I said, nice guy, bad lecturer.
James Zhang is a really good professor. His lectures are very organized however, the illustration of examples is pretty low. He approaches more to a proof or general formulas which are difficult to understand without examples. Overall, very good. You will not regret for taking his class if you study on time:)
He didn't explain things well at all, but he was a really nice guy. He has trouble with English, so often times questions were misunderstood and went unanswered.
First midterm was easier than second midterm. He was trying his best to teach, and is not hard get an A if you do all the homework and practice more. He tried to encourage us by promised to give anyone who get 100 in finals a 4.0. That motivated me to work harder for his finals. I did not get a 4.0 though, but was motivated by him. =)
His lectures are put together very well and he explains the concepts really well. Examples are not extremely prevalent, however there is not as much need as you have a good understanding without them and then you can use the book. First test is easy. Second test average was a low 60. Overall very helpful and good class.
Zhang was a quality professor. I struggled in the class, but his teaching style was straightforward and effective. He tends to focus more on general proofs and conceptual understandings, so it can be hard to make the transition of practical application on tests. Grading was fair and lectures were overall quite helpful.
Though I know many students struggled with Zhang, I found his teaching to be very clear and straightforward. He also has a goofy sense of humor that can lighten up the otherwise dense class. If you are taking MATH 126, I'd suggest Zhang.
He's really nice, and is pretty funny. He's not great at explaining though. The first midterm's easy, but the second one's hard. Overall, he's not bad, but not great.
Explains wonderfully. Accent not too pronounced.
Exmaples that he does in class were too easy so you might have problems when you are doing your hw. Once I sent emailed n hope he would explain on of the hw question, but he jus gave me the right answer (which does not help cuz webassign marked me down), no explanation at all. The second time I emailed for help, he just told me to ask my TA.
Zhang prepares you for his midterms, but not very well for the final. He had grad students with poor lecture structures teach some of the most important topics and wrote test questions specifically on those missed lectures. Zhang usually lectures clearly, but also rushes his notes at times and uses unneeded proofs instead of explaining topics.
Excellent Professor. Best lecturer I have had at UW. Take his class!
Nice guy, midterms are pretty reasonable.
Really good.
He is a nice guy, but he does not clarify, skips a lot of steps, and rushes through a lot.
The class was moderately good - not great. I felt bored multiple days I came in and the lectures didn't really prepare me for the final.
His lectures were well planned. He had a good sense of humor. His first mid term was easy his second was a bit harder, but wasn't that bad.
His test are extremely weird and had a lot of T/F questions. The midterms are no where near the practice ones.
His first midterm was extremely easy, the mode was 100%, the second midterm was definitely harder, but he does give hints on what's on the tests if you go to lectures. I really enjoyed and will miss his enthusiasm and bubbly personality.
He's a great person, not a great teacher. Things you need to know: 1)He is not easy to understand, you lose focus while he speaks especially 126 is different. 2)Exams are hard(different from students). 3)Quizzes are hard. 4)just doing homework not paying attention in class will not work. 5)although he's 3.9 now, do look for other prof for 126..
He tries really hard to be funny during lectures. Very friendly guy, always smiling. Math 125 is just hard in general, so I would say he's pretty good.
I didn't take 124 at UW so perhaps I was a bit unprepared for this class. Zhang while enthusiastic and humorous can be a bit hard to follow at times. He tends to skip steps assuming we know what to do . . At the same time though, it's math, open up your textbook and you'll find what you need to know. The final was a beast from hell.
The professor is fine, but the midterms are very hard.
Dr. Zhang is clearly knowledgable, which is great. He even left town a couple times because he was asked to speak at conferences. His lecture style is pretty good. He tends to work through examples versus giving formulae. He's really friendly, but strict at times.
A nice and interesting professor. His lectures are fairly clear.
Dr. Zhang has a slight accent, but I found It wasn't a problem after the first lecture. He has a very bubbly sense of humor, and clearly wants all of his students to succeed - He always makes sure students are comfortable with the material before going on. His first midterm was incredibly easy for my class too.
Good teacher. Tests and quizzes were pretty easy compared to some other professors but don't necessarily prepare you for the final all that well. A little hard to understand in lecture because he has an accent, but you get used to it and he's very good at explaining the material. Also, make sure to ask questions because he's very good at clarifying
Did not understanding much during his lectures. I'd have to go online and look for calculus notes to better understand the material. While during homework, my friends and I would always say, "Wait, when did we learn this stuff?". Turns out a lot of stuff on the midterm or the homework was not touched upon in class.
He seems to be a decent professor at the beginning of the quarter. But midway through, it fell apart for him. He crammed multiple lessons into one because he had to be gone many times throughout the quarter without planning for a sub, so it ended up with him giving us equations without really explaining what the equations do and how to use them.
Do not take his class, weired, never go over examples, so it is pretty hard to understand materials. OH is very useful though
Going to make it short and sweet, do not take him, switch to Loveless who actually helps students and is understandable. Learned more from Loveless's website alone 3 days before the final than an entire quarter of Zhang.
If you enjoy laughing at nothing for 50 minutes during lecture and being told before every test that you're probably going to fail then this dude is perfect for you. If, on the other hand, you want to succeed and do well in math 126 then drop this class instantly and find another teacher. In all honesty he puts equations up with no explanation.
He teaches well. He avoids proofs and spends most of each class giving examples. Lectures are never too fast. Before each midterm and before the final, he gives out review sheets that tell you exactly what topic each question is on and gives you several very similar example problems for you to practice. He cares if you understand the material.
As math teachers go, professor Zhang is not the worst one you could get. He makes sure to provide at least 2 or 3 examples when introducing new concepts and is very clear about the material that will be covered on tests/quizzes. However, to do well on the midterms and final exam, it's important to fully understand concepts rather than just formulas
Must go to class!!!! Relies heavily on the textbook. Quiz sections are optional, usually not very helpful unless you have a stellar TA. Very tough when choosing the average GPA so screws people's GPAs up even if they are fairly above average.
Professor Zhang's lectures often covered very little of the textbook material and his explanations were not thorough, especially when answering questions from the class. Expect to rely heavily on the textbook and online resources for the homework (Loveless' notes are great). His midterms are fairly easy, but be prepared for a much harder final.
Professor James is a lecturer that makes sure his students understand how the equations are derived and how to tackle some difficult questions. He often tries to cheer up the class by making silly jokes and some of them were kinda good. I always relied on his notes in class instead of the textbook and I can say I got above average on both midterms.
A very calm guy who is knowledgeable in maths. He'll try to help if you ask for it. He also teaches at a faster pace than his fellow colleagues so beware of that if you do not enjoy running through the syllabus.
Doesn't use Panopto and there are no online notes. You can't find any of his past exams online and they are 10x harder than other professors'. If you're lucky and get a good TA, you'll be safe but land a terrible TA and you're done for. He also doesn't add a little leeway to your hw grade like some other professors do.
That is the most disgusting professor I have ever had!He hardly mention the key point in the class only repeat all the formulas in the textbook. He even refused to answer my question in his office hour!His tests are also awful. The calculations are huge and the questions all focus on the calculations but the theories that we learn. DON'TTAKEHISCLAS
Dr. Zhang is a great lecturer -- I enjoyed going to his class. He is eager to help and answer questions when possible. However, his grading system is based on class rank and not standard deviation, so you absolutely cannot mess up on any midterms or finals. He does not use panopto or canvas so it is absolutely essential that you go to lecture.
Professor Zhang is very easy going, goofy, and really cares about his students. His tests are difficult but he is very transparent about test content/difficulty and how to succeed in his class. Definitely would recommend
He gives weekly quizzes which are a pain but they are not that hard. His tests are very hard though, but as long as you're above the average you should be fine. I overall did not like his lecture style and it is hard to read the notes he writes and understand him sometimes. You must work hard in this class. Plus he has no old midterms posted.
I really liked Zhang , he had very easy going lectures where he would write out notes and example problems for us, and if you have a question you can just ask it. The class is hard purely because of the material, but he does a good job of going at a moderate pace and reviewing exactly what will be on the midterms. Only con is how he does the curve
He is a pretty nice guy, although I wish we got more resources to use outside of lecture and the textbook. He tests require lots of tedious computations that make it hard to finish on time even if you understand the concepts. There was also harsh penalties for simple algebraic mistakes (which are easy to make given the nature of his exams)
Was hard to understand in lecture, TA was also hard to understand, does not use Canvas at all, gives study guides with no answer keys
Worst Math professor I've had at UW by far. He is hard to understand and his lectures are repeats of examples in the book with little to no explanation. I would recommend switching classes or solely relying on reading the textbook.
Don't take this professor. His lectures are the same as the textbook and he does not answer questions well. His tests are made overly complicated by difficult algebra and he gives little to no partial credit for simple algebra mistakes even when it is clear there is a conceptual understanding.
This was the hardest class I've taken at UW so far. His lectures are really hard to comprehend and most of the time it seemed like he was just writing formulas on the board. His exams are unreasonably hard which doesn't make sense because he never goes over examples in class. He is a nice, goofy person though but not a great teacher.
Zhang is a really nice guy and a good teacher if you just want to learn formulas, not the why behind the math. His tests were easy in comparison to other teachers'(but by comparison the final was pretty hard). Can be hard to understand if you have trouble with understanding accented speech. He is super nice tho, always willing to answer questions.
Nice guy, friendly and wants students to learn, lectures are very clear and have a good balance between theory and examples. Has good jokes and tests aren't too hard.
Hes not a very good lecturer, often confuses the students more with explanations, and relies too much on the textbook. Also he had his exam a week earlier than the rest of the math 126 classes and he doesnt post any of his old exams.
Zhang is hilarious. He jokingly 'kicks you out of class' if you have previously learned what he's about to teach but he's all serious when it comes to math. He gives really good feedback and he's so passionate in math. He designs his test questions in a way that the calculations are horrific but always lead to a simple answer.
Really nice, funny guy but doesn't really care if you actually understand the concepts fully. Memorization is one of his goto recommendations for students.
He's a really friendly and funny prof who knows a lot about his field. Lectures are pretty easy to understand though they were not recorded (I took the class this winter). The review sheets that he gave to us before the exams is great as it tells you what you need to know and what to expect for the test.
The class was asynchronous, which made the material harder to learn since we couldn't ask questions live. He gives good explanations, but he did not go in-depth at all, and the video quality of the lectures was poor. The tests weren't too bad if you did many practice problems, but he didn't provide any - I had to find them from Dr. Loveless's site.
Prof. Zhang didn't teach this course this Fall; he just reused his lecture videos from the Spring. Grades were based on just 5 10pt quizzes worth 80% of the final grade! There was a lot of HW, which is good practice, but only worth 20% of the grade!!! Quiz questions sometimes were different from the hw. No retakes, midterm, or final to boost grades
Professor Zhang is a nice person, but his lectures are not in-depth enough for the content covered in the quizzes. So basically its the text book or 3Blue1Brown for your grade. Also, the each quiz has 3 questions, and each are 16% of your overall grade, so there is a huge chance of losing a lot of points for stupid mistakes.
Grading system is horrific. Quizzes which are each 16% of your grade are made up of 3 or 4 questions, so a dumb mistake crushes your grade, and getting partial credit for mistakes is beyond rare. Follow that up with the only way to boost your grade being homework at 16% and lectures that cover maybe 50% of what is on the homework. Avoid if you can.
I really enjoyed MATH 126 with professor Zhang. His lectures are clear and tie right into the homework and quizzes. The bulk of your grade is based on five quizzes spaced out throughout the quarter, but as long as you watch the lectures and stay caught up on homework, you should do well on the quizzes and in this class. Overall, great professor.
Grades are based on two things- homework and 5 quizzes (each worth 1/6 of total). Missing a point on a quiz drops your overall grade by 2%. Miss 3 points per quiz (7/10) and prepare to retake the class. For reference, the quiz average of our class was 70% while the other class (taught by a different professor) was 83%. Make of that what you will.
If you want to learn 126 through YouTube by yourself, go ahead and take his class. Taking his online class in horrible, the lecture videos resolution is very low and overexposed for most of the time. His teaching has no difference from reading the book by yourself. I borrowed my friend's account and watched Loveless's, that's how I got through it.
Overall an awesome professor. I went to most of his office hours to ask for questions and he explained everything to me very well. His online lecture quality isn't very good when I took his class so it was a bit difficult to see what he wrote on the whiteboard sometimes. Overall a solid class to take!
I took his class while covid began so this is unlikely to be a recurrent issue, but I think it shows him being suboptimal professor. He cancelled our 40% of grade final which I was planning to be my saving grace. Not only did he give no options to replace it, he was rude about it. Hurt my gpa for sure.
We started the year off going online, but his lecture recordings were always super blurry and oversaturate making it tough to see what he actually wrote. Once we got back in person, it was slightly better. Also compared to the examples he does in class to the HW and the Exams, the exams were much harder and tougher so watch out.
Professor Zhang is a professor that evidently cares. His lectures tend to be straight forward and cover most of what is needed to complete the online homeworks. His midterms are difficult but reasonable. Overall, a solid choice.
This dude puts in no effort. No canvas page, a bare bones website buried in the depths of the math department, no lecture notes. Each lecture he just repeated the textbook word for word but the textbook itself is garbage. Nowhere near enough to prepare for the difficulty of his exams. Hell I stopped going and watched my friends lecture recordings.
I don't do these reviews often. But he is by far the worst professor I've had at UW. He just copies the textbook word for word in lecture but his tests are HARSH. No examples. No questions answered. No review/study guide. The only reason I didn't get destroyed by his class is because I watched my friends professors lecture recordings. RUNNNN
Lectures are not recorded, and Zhang uses Canvas/other digital tools almost not at all. However, lectures are informative, clear, and Zhang is super cheerful and enthusiastic. The topics can be tricky, but Zhang makes them very accessible and he obviously cares about students' learning and engagement.
He's generally a pretty good professor. If you attend all the lectures and put an effort into understanding the content outside of just the homework or class time you will likely succeed. However, there are no recorded lectures and a LOT of your grade will depend on your TA as they teach and grade most of the content. Challenging, but doable.
Sooooo nice and kind
Prof. Zhang is always happy. His lecture notes are well structured and clear to understand; ATTEND LECTURES and you won't have to do the readings. WebAssign homework can be tricky but usually straightforward ("Watch It" button is always helpful). Discussion sections with TAs are like study halls, so bring homework questions.
So funny and engaging. Tests are really difficult.
He's pretty funny and you can really tell he cares about Math and teaching. His class takes some time to get into the rhythm to, but there's usually only 2-4 homeworks per week, and two midterms and two quizzes per quarter. He's not very available outside of class, but his TAs (broski Cody Tipton is the best) help a lot.
Prof. Zhang is a funny and happy guy. He tries to make jokes in lectures. His lectures are fair, not great but not bad either. He doesn't post his old exams online so its kinda hard to know how he writes exams but doing WebAssign homework is definitely helpful. I wouldn't be too worried if you REALLY need to take his class.
A very difficult class but Professor Zhang does not make it any more difficult than it needs to be. He is very helpful leading up to exams and really seems to care about how his students do. Some of his TAs are much better than others though.
Zero online resources provided. No canvas, no outside sources to help you succeed. Didn't even know what my grade was in the class until after I took the final. His lectures are helpful, but are not recorded and are all taken on paper, so attendance is mandatory and it would be wise to make some friends in the class if you ever plan on being gone.
Graded based on homework, 2 quizzes, 2 midterms, and one final exam. Zhang is a good, caring lecturer; the lectures are not recorded and are done on paper, so attendance is mandatory. Going to quiz section is key for this class, the worksheets and problems are very useful for homeworks, midterms, and quizzes. The final was very difficult though.
Lectures got really hard to follow towards the end, especially since he doesn't come with pre-prepared lecture notes and just writes them down on pen and paper on a projector. Spends much more time computing than teaching the methodology and problem-solving patterns. He is subtly hilarious though.
Professor Zhang's MATH126 class is no easy feat, but with the right approach, you can succeed. His lectures are engaging, though attendance is mandatory. Unstuck study and the course textbook proved invaluable for preparing for the challenging exams. Overall, a rewarding experience.
Prof cannot lecture: just redoes textbook ex.s and his explanations/defn.s don't make sense. Learned more from quiz section, textbook, & Loveless' notes. For 3D stuff, he has a tiny popsicle stick model & a sheet of paper, or the actual cords of the doc camera or HIS MICROPHONE for 3D curves. Topped with chuckles to himself, it's so bad it's funny.
Super enthusiastic during lecture, does go over very simple examples though so homework can be a little hard sometimes. Gave us a good idea on what would be on the midterms and quizzes. No online material or recorded lectures so you have to go to class.
Professor Zhang is a nice, caring guy. Lectures are not recorded though. Lectures are ok, but I always understood the material better after lecture than reading the textbook. Examples are either very basic or confusing, but follow his advice and do old exam problems. He also gives a good idea of what will be on the exams.
His lectures were decent, however you had to attend as lectures weren't recorded. He told what each question would be for the midterms, so if you study final exams you will do very well. He had no resources on Canvas, so I had to seek out Dr. Loveless notes for review. As a teacher, he is average and his midterms are very reasonable.
Professor Zhang is a little more "old school". He likes writing on papers that are projected onto a screen, has a minimal canvas page, and didn't have his lectures recorded (so show up to class). But, he is well prepared and has a topic list that we consistently get through in each lecture. He was also very detailed in what he expected out of us.
Great professor! He explains everything very clearly, and his exam preparation sessions are extremely useful and helpful. In addition, his exams mainly consist of exercises similar to those in the textbook, which makes studying very focused and effective.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
44%
Textbook Required
50%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.14 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH307309
5.0
(1)RV3
5.0
(1)MATHMATH
5.0
(1)MATH126CB
5.0
(1)MATH124
4.7
(13)Difficulty by Course
126
5.0
MATH126BB
5.0
CALC124
4.0
MATH126
3.5
MATH124
3.2