He is horrible when it comes to explaining.. he doesn't answer questions and I didn't understand anything in class. His test are long b/c he didn't drop a question until everyone got it right. I'd avoid him if I could. Alot of kids dropped it.

the worst professor i have ever had....DO NOT TAKE OBRIEN!

Expresses ENTIRELY too much personal (political, religious) belief.

DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR! He is very hard. This class would not have been difficult for me but taking him made it very hard. If I would have viewed this page before hand I surely would not have taken him. I am a freshmen and he made me want to quit school.

Terrible teacher .. very smart man .. but cannot teach for anything .. avoid him at all cost

I happen to love math and have always received A's in math until I met O'Brien and got my first C only cuz he can't teach! I would avoid this one. *shudder* He's weird too.

im so confused about what he talks about

After 70+ hours of college, this was the worst professor in my life. He's not helpful, he thinks everyone is as smart as he is, and the class average is about a 55. This is the first class I have ever dropped. DO NOT TAKE HIM unless you are a math genius!

I feel that O'Brien is a very smart man and knows mathematics very well, but he has no idea how to teach. Hardly anyone ever knows what he lectures in class, but it seems as if he expects you to. I would advise anyone who is not a math genius to stay away from this course!!!

O'Brien has no idea how to teach. He rambles during his lectures and does NOT explain how to work the problems. I got an A in the class, but only because I obtained outside help. If you understand how to work his problems, however, the tests are easy.

Took him 2nd Sem of 05' math 199. Lasted one day in his classes before telling myself I need to get changed ASAP before starting up the new semester. What everyone has said above is ditto for me.

He talks during an examination. He didn't use the textbook, and I was totally unprepared for anything mathematical in later classes. I had to retake the class so I could learn the correct information.

HORRIBLE, this class was ridiculous this man has no business being a professor his class made me want to cry, bad bad teacher.

The guy just flat out can't teach, I got lucky and managed a C in the class. Pretty much the only thing I got from the class was a few laughs with friends about his sayings. "Agreeh?" "In O'briens World" "Questions from student la

Do not take this teacher he rumbles through his lectures and h cant teach i think everybody else said excatly what i was thinking so thats all I have to say dont take him!!!!!!

Hard.... Boring... and not interesting.

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Don't take this Professor. you are setting yourself up for failure. I thought I knew Math until I started taking Obrien. He sucks!!!

Very boring, hard test, class doesn't relate to test very well. DON'T TAKE HIM if you have a choice.

Very unclear and sarcastic. He's funny but I wouldnt take this class. Don't buy the book. The class is easy, but I'm good in Math. If you need help, however, don't take him. I once asked for my test grade. He said to see him during office hours. I asked when that was, and he replied, "When I'm in my office."

DO NOT TAKE HIM! he tries to be funny and ends up just being annoying. he refuses to help anyone. i knew some math until i went into his class. he goes the long way around things and ends up confusing everyone....and he doesn't care.

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He doesn't like to explain problems clearly or slowly at all. Nice personality but bad teacher.

Horrible teacher, Ive taken calculus in high school and still made an A in it But he takes the long way around everything making everything difficult I ended up with a D

Confusing and hard, he really dont work out of the book that much.....talks about sports more that math, not recommended

This professor is a prime example of a bad teacher. He will not explain or work out one problem. The stuff he teaches is not difficult but he does not tell you how to do anything. He babbles on about nothing the entire class not ever stopping to help a student. If you want to teach yourself how to do math this is definately the class to take.

I went to class the first day and never went back, I went home and droped the class, I got a new teacher. He is so hard to understand, he goes off on random topics. I did not look at this website first. Dont make my mistake, dont take this guy. One day was enoff for me

Horrible teacher, the only reason he is still at the university is because he has tenure and they cant fire him. This guy is useless when it comes to actually learning something, only managed to do good because i had Calculus in highschool. He goes off topic, talks about his family and doesnt care about students. **Warning** Avoid at all cost!

VERY DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND

AWFUL!!! He's constantly going off about random subjects that are completely off topic. He'll spend many class days talking about stuff that wont even be on the test. The only good thing i can say about him is that he gave me a C even though my test grades were awful!

this man is horrible he doesnt teach he just rambles if you try to get him to slow down he refuses saying your not paying attention. his test are in his own handwriting which isnt legible and treats you like your stupid if you dont understand him. i recommend you dont take this man

This is the WORST teacher of my life!! Do not take him you will be miserable, math is my favorite subject but the way he taught made it so hard.. More than half of my class failed or dropped only a couple survived..He is horrible don't even waste your time!!

He was a HORRIBLE teacher. He does not give a syllabus so you have virtually no idea what you will be covering and you do not know when your tests are. He rambles about his life and it never pertains to the subject on which he is lecturing. He would move on even when no one in the class understood. Most of the class failed most of the tests.

Awful, awful, awful, awful, awful! I am a math major and the class was AWFUL!!

Worst teacher I have ever had. I went and got help from a previous teacher and she could not even help me because you could not understand what he wanted, she told me that she would never put those questionsthat he asked on a test.I had to drop this class because he was so awful. He is a 10 year so that is why he is still around!

Worst teacher I have EVER had, math has always been my best subject never had lower than an A and some how I found myself failing, never thought id drop out of a math class.

unhelpful. does not teach from text. does do a curve. ended up with a B how? i have no idea. Last test and final let us bring in a full page paper with notes on it. that saved me. He knows how to do everything but does not explain it at all. DO NOT TAKE

Had to teach myself. If at all possible do not take his class. Textbook Use is high because I had to teach myself.

He shows you how to do something once on the board and expects you to know how to do the problem and completely understand it. To do well in this class you HAVE to ask questions over and over and basically force him to explain things. He's really nice though so I suggest you go see him in his office before each test. And he doesnt use blackboard.

TERRIBLE!! He does not know how to teach and he makes everything way too confusing!! Only went to class twice, and dropped his class. Do not take him, he is awful!!

Absolutely terrible prof. He is very condescending, will not answer a question directly. does the problem on the board one time and expects you to understand. he is such malcious when answering questions that no one will ask questions. more than half of my class dropped after the second test. I would avoid taking him at all cost!

Worst teacher I've ever had. I had to take this class to enroll in Physics. I got an A in physics and a D in Trigonometry because he is so difficult to understand. He is very smart but he does NOT know how to teach at all. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Literally the WORST prof I have ever had. He basically just mumbled the entire time about random topics and didn't give any grades other than tests. He does give reviews that are similar to the tests, but he doesn't teach well, or at all. DO NOT TAKE

COMPLETE JOKE. Have no clue how this guy got tenure. Extremely hard to follow. I had to get a tutor. You would THINK he'd make the connection that his teaching techniques aren't effective in the the fact he has curves EVERY test by at least 15 points or the majority of the class would fail.

worst prof ive ever had. babbled about nonsense most of class. he cannot answer a question. I swear half the class dropped. no idea how he still has a job

I took trig the semester before with a different prof and ended up with a 98 final average. Obrien gave us his trigonometry final exam as a homework/review and I could not answer a single question. He gave his college algebra final as hw too and I could only do half of it on my own. The math lab tutors couldn't even figure out some of the problems.

Worst Math teacher ever! Learned nothing about Trig in this class, and had to drop this class. If math comes easily for you take him. If it does not then don't take him.

horrible clarity, repetitive speech

Holy cow I wish I could use some words to describe this guy but I literally fumed in my desk because he was worst professor I've ever seen. Unreal. Doesn't make any sense and talks about random stuff. Sam Houston needs to do something about this. A third of the class dropped atleast

The worst math teacher I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

Joseph O'Brien is the WORST professor I have ever had. Nothing he says makes sense and he is incredibly rude. Take ANYONE else if you can. There is no homework but the only grades you get are from the tests, that are extremely hard. Do NOT take him.

STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!! He hand writes tests and you can not read his hand writing! I wouldn't even give him a one if i could.

This guy is ridiculous, do not take him!! Tried to transfer out, talked with chair of Math dept, all say the material is way behind or non-existent in the book, even tutors dread him. Even if I got an A (class average is 32), I would retake it to get a better understanding of calculus. BEWARE!!!!

The worse teacher I have ever had in MY LIFE doo yourself a favor and DO NOT TAKE HIM! HE GIVES OUT TEST THAT ARE HAND WRITTEN AND HE CAN NOT WRITE AT ALL. IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TRYING TO READ HIS HORRIBLE HAND WRITTING

This is the WORST teacher I've ever had in my life and the only class I have EVER dropped in 3 years. He does not teach or do his job, he expects you to know it already. He handwrites the test so they're very unclear and difficult to read. He goes on and on about stuff that doesn't make any sense and wastes time. Take literally anyone else.

He expects you to know the subject already. His test are handwritten and his samples are not from the book. You practically have to teach yourself in order to pass. The book will come in handy in order to teach yourself. The class I started with was maxed out in capacity, by the end of the semester there were only 6 students left. Don't take him!

He is very good and passionate about math but he is just absolutely awful at teaching. 10/10 would not recomend

Doesn't give out hw because he said he was to lazy to grade. His notes are everywhere, he writes on a chalk board and his handwriting is barely readable. When we told him to we couldn't read his writing he said move closer to the board or oh well. Test were ridiculous and confusing with his messed up handwriting. His method of solving was differen

He does not go through steps on the board so you have no idea what he is doing. He does not take time to explain things and he handwrites all of his tests. You end up not knowing what to do on the tests because you learned nothing. Overall he was a terrible professor and I have to retake the course. Don't choose this professor.

horrible for calc 1. I don't think I even started learning calc stuff until the last 2 weeks before finals. Everyone failed every single test. I was getting the highest grades of 55-65 but he passed me with a B somehow. Do not take if you need the other calculus classes.

He didn't teach to where everyone could understand. Majority of the class failed his test.

He cannot teach at all whatsoever. He really only teaches to himself. If you fail he blames the class. Everyone in the class failed and most dropped the class. We reported him to the department head but no action was taken. STEER CLEAR OF THIS PROFESSOR!!!

He is a nice person he just doesn't explain anything well. He doesn't even let the class know what we're working, he works everything on a chalkboard without ever finishing a problem he starts.

This professor is horrible no one should suffer through this class, hes nice and all but his way of teaching is horrible. You never know whats going on! Stay away from this teacher.

O'Brien is the worst math professor I've ever had.... If you have struggled at all with any math course, do NOT take him. He expects you to know things already and won't answer questions in class; going to him during his office hours doesn't help either. He only has grades for four exams and a final.

DON'T TAKE UNLESS IT IS YOUR ONLY OPTION! Math has always been my strong suit, but with him as my professor I am failing the class. Only way to understand anything is to teach yourself. Asking him questions is a no go because he'll talk to you like you're stupid. He teaches by throwing problems on the board but doesn't even explain what he is doing

Do not take him unless youre out of options. His exam are based on roof problems which are sometimes confusing to understand. It is hard to do well as most of the time since he spends most of the time just writing on the board w/o explaining what hes writing. He at times went over the material AFTER the exam when the material was on the exam.

He doesnt really explain how to do the actual problems. He will assign homework from the textbook thats hard to find and he never picks it up. He gives no feedback on your tests and doesnt upload a grade. Your grade is made up from 5 tests and he barely curves. I took calc in high school and thats the only reason I barely passed.