3.4

Ladan Tahvildari

Engineering - University of Waterloo

3.4
Quality
3.4
Difficulty
56%
Would Retake
83
Reviews
3.4
Quality
3.4
Difficulty
3.4
Helpful
3.4
Clarity

56%

Would Retake

83

Reviews

Rating Distribution
Official
83 total ratings

5

42

4

8

3

4

2

7

1

22

What Students Say

Save yourself time and study from MIT's 6

ECE250 - 1.0 rating

Very nice and caring; has the drive to be a good teacher

ECE250 - 2.0 rating
Class Info

Online Classes

100%

Attendance Mandatory

57%

Textbook Required

25%

Grade Predictor

Your expected effort level

LowHigh

Predicted Grade

B

68% confidence
Based on 6 grades
Most common grades:
B+ (2)
Incomplete (1)
A (1)
Grade Distribution
A(2)B(1)C(0)D(1)F(0)A-/B+(2)
Based on 7 reported grades
B+: 2
Incomplete: 1
A: 1
A+: 1
Common Tags
Respected (12)
Caring (10)
Tough grader (10)
Amazing lectures (9)
Inspirational (8)
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS (4)
Accessible outside class (4)
Tough Grader (3)
Rating Trend

Declining

-1.15 avg change
Dec
Apr
Aug
Dec
Dec
Mar
Last 6 months
Ratings by Course

SE350

5.0

(1)

ECE658

5.0

(3)

SE240

4.3

(20)

250

4.0

(1)

ECE

4.0

(3)
+3 more courses
Difficulty by Course

SE350

5.0

ECE4934

4.0

ECE658

4.0

ECE250

3.5

ECE

3.3

Reviews (82)
5.0
1.0
ECE250
Dec 29, 2001

:) ;)

5.0
3.0
ECE250
Feb 4, 2002

very approachable and knows her stuff. enthusiastic

5.0
2.0
ECE250
May 3, 2002

Best in ECE,

5.0
2.0
ECE250
May 11, 2002

Great!!

4.0
1.0
250
May 8, 2003

No Comments

5.0
1.0
SE240
Oct 6, 2004

Very good prof. She is very reasonable and gives chocolates during exams. I never encountered this type of prof before. If you like sweet stuff, go to her lectures.

2.0
3.0
SE240
Oct 18, 2004

useless prof. i un-learned stuff in that course.

2.0
1.0
SE240
Nov 15, 2004

I want my tuition money back. Useless prof. who doesn't know what she's talking about. Highly recommended to skip lectures and read the textbook if you would like to actually learn something.

5.0
4.0
SE240
Nov 29, 2004

An excellent and straight forward teacher, probably one of the best I've had in UW. It's the only class that I didn't skip on a regular basis.

5.0
3.0
SE240
Dec 10, 2004

Best prof in the ece department, Best prof in UW Engineering, Best Prof at UW, Best prof in Ontario, Best Prof in Canada, Best prof in the World .... :-)

2.0
2.0
ECE
Dec 19, 2004

It's really fishy who is rating her 5/5 for clarity? are you sure you actually attended her lecture? Everyone made fun of her (she was really funny because she was making a fool out of herself) when I was taking one of her lectures

5.0
4.0
ECE
Mar 13, 2005

She is very clear, organized and she KNOWS what she is talking about. Professor Ladan is definitely an asset to the ECE department @UW.

5.0
3.0
SE240
Apr 18, 2005

Not much you can say that's bad about her. Just an all-around good person, and really wicked prof.

3.0
3.0
SE240
Sep 15, 2005

Absolutely abnormal person.

5.0
4.0
SE240
Sep 24, 2005

The Best Professor in Software Engineering who cares about the students a lot.

5.0
5.0
SE240
Sep 24, 2005

Great Professor! One of the few professors that is always looking for ways of improving her teaching approach to the benefit of her students.

4.0
2.0
SE240
Dec 1, 2005

Decent teacher and has good slides (which may or may not be stolen...). I found her voice kind of annoying and she has the tendency to answer questions by repeating her previous explanation. But at least she tries.

5.0
4.0
SE240
Dec 6, 2005

Very competent, knowledgeable and helpful :-)

5.0
4.0
SE240
Jan 6, 2006

She is GREAT and full of life!

3.0
3.0
SE240
Mar 2, 2006

Decent prof. Sometimes she arranges office hour but isn't available though...

4.0
4.0
ECE4934
Apr 4, 2006

She is really nice and enthusiastic about the course. The course is really good, but the last assignment was impossiblly long.

5.0
4.0
ECE
Jun 28, 2006

One of the few profs left in the ECE department who actually cares about her undergrad and grad students... Just for that, she's on the top of my list...

5.0
4.0
SE240
Jun 28, 2006

Great prof. Her lectures are thorough and straight to the point. The midterm was too long, but there is a lot of material...so I can't complain (too much). The lecture notes were all available online and they cover what she covers in the lectures and much more: a great bonus!

5.0
5.0
SE240
Aug 5, 2006

Gives clear explanations and is very helpful to students. Gives very hard exams and expects you to know everything perfectly to pass (which is rather unrealistic).

5.0
3.0
SE240
Mar 13, 2007

She is excellent at teaching the material and very good at getting concepts across. She gives you extra insight into looking at the SE concepts that you don't get from other profs. She is very approachable and helpful.

3.0
5.0
SE240
Jul 1, 2009

a wonderful person, and a great, clear, and energetic professor, which I have repeatedly said. anyone who says otherwise has obviously never attended any of her lectures.

5.0
3.0
SE240
Apr 20, 2010

Ladan is amazing! I hope she continues to teach for many years to come.

5.0
5.0
SE350
Oct 10, 2010

Prof Tahvildari is the best professor I have had at this University. She wants everyone to pass her course, but that doesn't mean she will ever lower her standards. Instead, she is the most helpful and available professor. 3 words: best professor ever. If you can take a course with her, you should.

5.0
2.0
SE240
Dec 1, 2010

Amazing Amazing prof! Probably one of the best professors in the university. Her notes are very clear. She's easy to understand. Goes out of her way to help you. Makes the course really fun and interesting! Gives ALOT of her free time to students! :)

5.0
2.0
SE240
Dec 22, 2010

An Amazing Prof. One of the best I have ever met.

4.0
3.0
ECE750
Nov 1, 2011

She is a great professor :)

5.0
4.0
ECE750
Jan 2, 2012

Most helpful prof ever seen in my life. Really cares for her students. Never lowers the standers of the course. Very useful class notes.Must take this course to learn something useful.

5.0
3.0
ECE750
Jan 5, 2012

To me she is the best professor in ECE dept. Really helpful. she wants her student to work hard.her lecture slides are really helpful. But throughout the course she will give you a tough time.

5.0
3.0
ECE250
Dec 21, 2012

She is a prof that TRULY cares. Tries literally everything she can to help her students.

1.0
3.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Plagiarizes literally every assignment and review question. Does not know how to program. Has a very cursory understanding of the topic she's teaching. Sticks up for incompetent TAs and lab instructors.

1.0
2.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

One of the worst, if not the worst professor I've ever had. Her classes were painful to attend due to her slides and examples, not to mention her voice. Exams, assignments, and labs were hell because she does not understand how to use the English language; she also blamed us for not being able to understand her questions delivered in broken English

1.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Terrible. Plagiarism everywhere, examples are horrible (And usually incorrect). She spends "A lot" of time working on questions for us, which is obviously untrue, since the questions she actually made on the exams were poorly written and made no sense.

1.0
1.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

I don't see how anyone could have enjoyed her class. She's pretty terrible.

1.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Confusing, self centered, unhelpful, unclear, annoying voice, terrible use of lecture time and materials.

1.0
4.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Extremely lacking in clear explanation of concepts. Steps through useless examples straight out of the textbook, with very little explanation. Gives terrible answers to questions. Lectures not worth attending

2.0
4.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

I originally thought she was a great prof, but as the semester went on, it became bittersweet. She plagiarizes her work without citing properly, yet criticises her students for the smallest amount of similarities. Is very helpful with smaller things, but when things get serious she becomes very uninterested.

1.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Terrible at explaining. Focusses on the wrong concepts. Not to mention looking up the concepts covered got me farther than attending her class. Just not a good prof.

1.0
3.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

All i've learned in that class was how to MERGEEEEEEEEEE.

1.0
4.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Awful.

4.0
2.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

She needs to learn how to teach properly in bigger classes. Very helpful if you go and ask her for help individually and provides a lot more office hours then other prof.

1.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 12, 2013

Her intonation just got really anoying

1.0
3.0
ECE250
Apr 13, 2013

All her notes are taken from other places with no citations, which makes them very inconsistent and hard to follow. She needs to properly credit sources.

5.0
1.0
ECE250
Apr 18, 2013

One of the "BEST" profs in the ECE department. Although, she has a tight schedule, she tries to dedicate her free time to help her students. No matter how times you ask her the same question, she never gets irritated and replies patiently. She is one of the profs who really considers and cares for the concerns of her students. Extremely friendly.

5.0
1.0
ECE250
Apr 26, 2013

One of the best prof. Don't understand why people rank her this low. Course itself is easy, she teaches slowly with examples. Friendly and patient after class. The only downside is her voice probably. Many students cannot concentrate in class just because her voice which is kind of hilarious. Her voice cannot be the excuse of failure

3.0
3.0
ECE250
Apr 16, 2016

She's pretty good prof. She goes through concepts pretty thoroughly and slowly during lectures so it's completely understandable. The only thing is that her grading schemes are not lenient at all; prepare to lose a lot of marks for small omissions or not explaining everything clearly.

1.0
4.0
ECE250
Dec 5, 2016
Wouldn't take again

DONT GO TO CLASS. Save yourself time and study from MIT's 6.006 and 6.046J lectures on youtube (MIT OpenCourseWare). Lectures plagiarised from MIT, examples from MIT, Assignment copy pasted from online, projects made by Douglas Harder 0 effort put by her into making this course. Skips extremely important content like there's no tomorrow.

Tough Grader
2.0
4.0
ECE250
Dec 14, 2016
Wouldn't take again

Very nice and caring; has the drive to be a good teacher. However she explains concepts in a very convoluted way and if you try solving problems on exams using any other way you get marks taken off.

Tough Grader
LOTS OF HOMEWORK
Caring
4.0
3.0
ECE250
Apr 3, 2017
Would take again

Her exams are pretty fair.

Gives good feedback
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS
Caring
2.0
4.0
ECE250
Apr 22, 2017
Wouldn't take again

Her slides are terrible. I went to nearly every class and they were still terrible. She copies information from all over the net, but without the context necessary to make it understandable. Don't understand something? Google it to reveal that it's actually simple and she just sucks at teaching. I give her a 2 because at least she gave us problems.

Tough Grader
Get ready to read
4.0
5.0
ECE250
Jul 8, 2017
Would take again

Amazing classes, wonderful professor but lots of work though.

Respected
Participation matters
LOTS OF HOMEWORK
4.0
5.0
ECE250
Jul 11, 2017
Would take again

Great lectures, very organized, and very clear. She puts effort into teaching.

Respected
LOTS OF HOMEWORK
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS
5.0
5.0
ECE250
Aug 3, 2017
Would take again

Really nice professor. Willing to help struggling students and explains concepts very well in class. She has great knowledge of material and can explain difficult concepts in an easy way. Exams were very fair and reflected the content of the lectures. Very understanding and cares about students. Ladan is one of the best professors in ECE.

Respected
Inspirational
Amazing lectures
5.0
5.0
ECE250
Sep 8, 2017
Would take again

The material is worth the struggle. She knows her stuff and cares about each of her students. Thanks Professor Ladan for all U have done for class 2020

Respected
Inspirational
Caring
5.0
5.0
ECE750
Sep 19, 2017
Would take again

One of the best professors at UW. She is extremely demanding but will help you go to where she wants you to be. Took two courses and she is flexible as well kind and caring.

Respected
Inspirational
Caring
5.0
4.0
ECE658
Jan 31, 2018
Would take again

Dr. Ladan is an asset to the Department, the Faculty, and the University. I cannot think of a professor who has inspired me more in my academic and professional life. Thanks Professor Ladan!

Respected
Inspirational
Caring
5.0
4.0
ECE250
Feb 17, 2018
Would take again

Dr. Ladan is one of the best professors in our ECE department. Her lecture are clear and interesting which makes you want to learn more. Her exam are fair and way easier than the course assignments. You really learn something from her after the course finished. She is a real gem of UW, hoping we get more prof like her.

Inspirational
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS
Amazing lectures
5.0
4.0
ECE658
Feb 18, 2018
Would take again

Wow what a great semester! Professor Ladan really cares! And it really shows in the hard work she does for her students each and every day. Her exams are completely fair and she really wants you to learn. She not only is an excellent educator but also is a caring person who understands students.

Respected
Amazing lectures
GROUP PROJECTS
5.0
4.0
ECE658
Jun 3, 2018
Would take again

Great Prof with lots of learning. I am actually using the materials I learned in her class in my internship now�� She said the software engineering is important. and it is. We covered so much and she kept the class interesting and motivated. Much appreciated, Professor Ladan!

Inspirational
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS
Amazing lectures
1.0
3.0
ECE250
Sep 20, 2018
Wouldn't take again

Awful

1.0
3.0
ECE250
Grade: Incomplete
Apr 7, 2019
Wouldn't take again

In class, she just directly read the content from her unclear PPT. Her making scheme is awful. If the final result is wrong and the most process is right, you only can get 2 out of 15 of this question. Learning algorithm on YouTube maybe better than her lectures.

Tough grader
5.0
1.0
ECE250
Apr 18, 2019
Would take again

Very organized, quite clear when answering questions, responded promptly when I sent her an email, and seems to want her students to do well. Overall a great prof. Make sure you understand the course notes and follow along in class.

Respected
Amazing lectures
Caring
1.0
4.0
ECE250
Apr 22, 2019
Wouldn't take again

If you make even a single small mistake in the process of solving a question, youll lose 80% of the marks.

Tough grader
1.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 24, 2019
Wouldn't take again

She absolutely kills creativity in her students. Based on her marking scheme in the exam you either solve the questions her way or get zero. A lot of students are frustrated and drawn away from the subject as a result.

Tough grader
5.0
5.0
ECE250
Apr 25, 2019
Would take again

Professor Ladan, you are amazing!

Respected
Accessible outside class
Inspirational
5.0
3.0
ECE250
Grade: B+
May 7, 2019
Would take again

Professor Ladan was amazing and I probably learned the most from her class

Respected
Accessible outside class
Caring
5.0
3.0
ECE250
May 30, 2019
Would take again

Professor Ladan really cares about her student and tries to create teaching material that will benefit the class. Her lectures are clear and easy to understand. She has a lot of office hours and really wants her students to learn. BUT she is a tough grader and you'll lose alot marks if you dont answer questions in a specific way.

Accessible outside class
Amazing lectures
Tough grader
2.0
3.0
ECE250
Grade: A
Jun 5, 2019
Wouldn't take again

She's not a good teacher. You are MUCH better off watching MIT Opencourseware and reading CLRS and skip the lectures as she pretty much rips her slides off from them. Do her past exams as those are pretty representative of what she'll give you and the tutorials are pretty decent to attend as well (The TA is a better teacher than her)

Caring
Tough grader
1.0
1.0
ECE750
Grade: A+
Sep 17, 2019
Wouldn't take again

If she just didn't talk and put the lecture notes online it would be better.

Lots of homework
So many papers
Tough grader
5.0
4.0
ECE250
Sep 24, 2019
Would take again

Great professor; well organized lectures. Reachable. Learned quite a lot.

Respected
Accessible outside class
Amazing lectures
5.0
4.0
ECE250
Nov 18, 2019
Would take again

She's hands down one of the best professor's I've ever had. She is energetic during lectures and she makes sure we understand the material. I emailed her a few times during weekends asking questions and she always responded within an hour. She really cares about her students! Thanks Professor Ladan for all you are doing for us.

5.0
4.0
ECE250
Dec 20, 2019
Would take again

Amazing lectures, lots to learn from. All five projects were lots of fun. However the midterm was 25% and the final is 30%, so make sure you go to class and pay attention if you want to do well on those.

Inspirational
Amazing lectures
Caring
1.0
3.0
ECE750
Grade: B+
Apr 5, 2020
Wouldn't take again

She doesn't care about her students, not even a bit. Taking the course with her is the worst experience.

1.0
3.0
ECE250
Aug 22, 2020
Wouldn't take again

Bad Prof, keeps telling you to follow a set of formula for solving complexity problems. She would rushed to finish her office hour spend with you by telling you to follow her rules. No marks or little marks given to solutions without using her way of solving. Highly disappointed. Never want to take her class anymore.

Tough grader
5.0
4.0
ECE250
Dec 15, 2020
Would take again

This prof is amazing on so many levels, words cant describe how amazing she is. She is a blessing to ECE. Her course is tough but she does the absolute most to make you get the best out of it. She is a real gem, Love her!

Respected
Amazing lectures
Caring
1.0
5.0
ECE250
Grade: B
Dec 5, 2022

Tough grader, literally stole all her slides from CLRS textbook, and puts no effort into the course. If you don't follow her steps to the tee you will lose marks (not part marks, literally you will get a 10% on the question). Labs were unclear but this will depend on your lab instructor. She also weirdly brags about her IEEE stuff...

Tough grader
1.0
5.0
ECE250
Dec 7, 2022

simply bruh

Tough grader
Get ready to read
1.0
5.0
ECE250
Grade: D-
Mar 11, 2023

this teacher is unreasonable when it comes to grading, gives zero part marks, no other way is allowed other than her way. Gives you algorithm questions, expect you to answer the complete same as hers, or you get zero. if you don't show enough work, you get 10% for that question even if the question is completely right. I will never take her again.

Tough grader
Class Info

Online Classes

100%

Attendance Mandatory

57%

Textbook Required

25%

Grade Predictor

Your expected effort level

LowHigh

Predicted Grade

B

68% confidence
Based on 6 grades
Most common grades:
B+ (2)
Incomplete (1)
A (1)
Grade Distribution
A(2)B(1)C(0)D(1)F(0)A-/B+(2)
Based on 7 reported grades
B+: 2
Incomplete: 1
A: 1
A+: 1
Common Tags
Respected (12)
Caring (10)
Tough grader (10)
Amazing lectures (9)
Inspirational (8)
ACCESSIBLE OUTSIDE CLASS (4)
Accessible outside class (4)
Tough Grader (3)
Rating Trend

Declining

-1.15 avg change
Dec
Apr
Aug
Dec
Dec
Mar
Last 6 months
Ratings by Course

SE350

5.0

(1)

ECE658

5.0

(3)

SE240

4.3

(20)

250

4.0

(1)

ECE

4.0

(3)
+3 more courses
Difficulty by Course

SE350

5.0

ECE4934

4.0

ECE658

4.0

ECE250

3.5

ECE

3.3

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