2.6
Quality3.7
Difficulty6%
Would Retake94
Reviews6%
Would Retake
94
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
14
4
18
3
16
2
21
1
25
What Students Say
“You really get out of his class what you put in”
MATH274 - 3.0 rating“Stern is one of the best teachers I've had since being at Towson”
MATH265 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.85 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH
5.0
(2)ALMOSTALL
5.0
(1)CALC
5.0
(1)CAL1
5.0
(1)CALCII
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MATH267
5.0
ABSTRACT
5.0
ABSTRACTALGEBR
5.0
MATH365
5.0
MATH211
4.7
Reviews (94)
The class is hard and he collects wll homework. Only 3 tests. Accent
Good teacher once you understand his accent, hard grader!
English would be nice. Hard to understand and a hard class.
No Comments
OK, but makes fun of people a lot. Accent, but all math is foreign!
Loves to laugh at his students and seems full of himself.
No Comments
VERY STRICT, expects his course to refocus your life
Made me feel stupid when i gave a wrong answer. CANNOT teach.
The best teacher ever!!!!
speaks bad english, cant spell, easy work, horrible final, rude to students
Very hard, fast pace, and makes your feel stupid. HORRIBLE TEACHER why is he still teaching???
hard, but a clear teacher. gives good examples and good notes. kind of mean but a nice guy if you talk to him one on one
drop immediately
i had him fresh year and stern has gotten better over the years. he is very tough and expects a lot from us but if you take time to talk w/ him outside of class, it helps! for tests: study homework, he uses problems directly from it.
He DOES NOT deserve that bad rap he is given! I heard terrible things about him and he ended up being very helpful and encouraging! GIVE HIM A CHANCE...the tests are staright from the homework, so it is easy to pass
ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!!! DON'T TAKE HIM!!! HE CALLS THE CLASS STUPID AND HE CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH. HE IS EXTREMELY RUDE AND YOU DON'T LEARN A THING!
Really is a nice guy and is very helpful when you interact with him on a one on one basis. Class is still kinda difficult though.
so helpful. once he warms up to you he is fabulous. i took classess with him every opportunity.
Most Likeky the best Calculus teacher in the math dept. VERY helpful when you approch him, very understanding. Best you can have in Math Dept. at TU
His a strong accent and goes over material quite fast. He is extremely knowledgable and knows the material. He is very helpful if you need it. He does give many assignments but tests are farely easy. Recommended.
DO NOT TAKE HIM!! very heavy accent. not helpful. class you stupid to your face. very rude even when you are extremely nice. drop immediately.
Material was taught pretty well. He is very willing to help students in understanding the material. No surprises on his exams. Slight accent, but hardly terrible to understand. Exams are easy if you do the homework assigned.
Not a bad teacher. Accent Is not bad at all. Exams can be tricky, but easy enough to pass. I hated Calc. before taking it but I have a good understanding for other classes that are Calc. based.
Not the best teacher I've ever had. The tests aren't too bad, and it does come directly from the homework, but if yo want to retain your love of math, DON'T TAKE HIS CLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hard to understand, doenst understand your questions. all around a pretty bad teacher. dont take this guy
Very good teacher. Explains everything very clearly
He is very respectable. He explains everything very thouroughly.
Absolutely horrible. Try not to have this teacher
He can be a difficult teacher, but he is easy to understand and very clear. His exams are not bad, but there is usually one question that is pretty hard. Most people don't like him because of the way he gives exams out. If you failed you will get a comment to study.(In front of the class)
Great at teaching the material. Has a slight accent, but it is easy to understand. If you do the homework it is a very manageable class.
This class is for people who can seriously spend time on work. If you're one of those people who are smart but lazy this class isn't for you. He gives you a LOT of ****work, in which you spend a great deal of your time teaching yourself or solving long intricate problems.
Stern does NOT know how to teach. He doesn't really explain anything, and you have to rely on the book a lot. Except that even the book he picked sucks, so you have to spend a lot of time figuring it out because the book and the professor don't explain it. PLEASE DONT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!
Dr. Stern is very clear in his presentations of the material but he is the hardes professor I have had at TU. He called us "stupid" in class when we did not have correct answers. His tests were very unfair. His test problems do not align with the problems he tests you on.
He is well orginized and can explain the topics very clearly, reasonable with grades, gives a lot of weight to homework., exam could be worse
Dr. Stern is very difficult to understand. He speaks rather softly and doesnt take time to explain things that he "assumes" you already know. I find hios class VERY frustrating
Very clear and respectful to all his students. Teaches the material very clearly. If you need help he'll give you all the help you need.
i wish they wouldnt let this guy teach. He assumes that the class is at his understanding of the material and doesnt teach it well. While he uses a good variety of homework problems to help you figure the class out, he doesnt explain clearly how to do it; so whats the point of giving it? Take someone else if you can. If not, study everynight
Very good teacher and he is very helpful.
GET OUT NOW!His class consists of him doing problems on the board and him assigning homework which he GRADES and NEVER goes over.I asked him for help once and he told me thats what the tutoring center was for, a total jerk. I honestly dont know why he is a teacher.I was deathly afraid to ever talk in his class because he would make you feel dumb.
I learned a lot in his class. He is very helpful and explains the methods in details with several examples.
DON'T EVER REGISTER FOR ANY OF HIS CLASSES. STERN NEVER EXPLAINS ANYTHING, HE GIVES TONS OF HOMEWORK, WHICH HE GRADES VERY TOUGHLY, AND NEVER EVER GIVES ANSWERS TO. ALL OF HIS TESTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE. WHENEVER I ASK QUESTIONS IN CLASS HE MIGNORES ME AND MAKES ME LOOK STUPID. HE ALSO ISN'T HELPFUL AT ALL DURING OFFICE HOURS EITHER. GET OUT NOW!
Believe the worst! Stern can be very rude to students in class and during office hours. He acts like it bothers him to help students and answer questions. His teaching is not clear. Definitely plan on teaching yourself.
he's not very helpful, and definitely doesn't explain anything. to make matters worse he stands in front of his examples on the board and mumbles. finally, he is foreign which makes his speech very unclear.
I actually don't find him as horrible as everyone is portraying him to be. If you struggle in math, you shouldn't take him. Otherwise, he's really not that hard. Do all the homework when he says to do it, and take the time to go to class and learn the material. You can pass if you actually try. I enjoy his class, but I am also a math major.
Often hard to pay attention to because he speaks slowly. Only take this if you have a real interest in math - not a good idea if you're taking the class as a GenEd. Tests are EVERYTHING, homework is only 10% but do it anyway because classes are all about notes and doing problems to help you on the test!
One of the few times the ratings have been dead wrong. A very knowledgeable professor and knows how to teach. Has a Russian accent but he's not hard to understand. Just listen and do the HW and you'll do fine with him.
Friendly enough. Awful teacher. Knows his stuff. He loves the subject matter and research. Unfortunately for him, teaching is a necessary evil to continue research in academia. Doesn't make himself available when he says he will. Likes to teach new subject matter, without notice, prior to tests; providing little study time. He'd rather not be here
I've always been horrible at Math but Professor Stern did a wonderful job of teaching the material to my class. He collects and grades the homework (which counts for 10%) and assigns three exams. You will be fine so long as you put forth the effort to learn. He has been the nicest professor I've ever had.
He has a thick foreign accent that is difficult to understand. Some of the material is horribly difficult and some of it is fairly easy depending on the unit. Fortunately, he is a very nice grader. You get tons of partial credit for getting the method right even if the answer is wrong. If you need a math course, then he wouldn't be a bad choice.
I've only seen him smile a couple times, but he's not a bad teacher. He does have a thick accent, it's like Russian or something, but you get used to it. If you stay after class he will answer any questions you have and make sure you understand. I liked him enough to take him twice.
Ok well I don't go to towson but I took math273 as a summer course for my calculus I requirement. I loved Dr.Stern's class! He's tests were MORE than fair because he tested us on important basics such as "find the derivative of this" or what is the "limit as x approaches 1." BASIC calculus, nothing tough! The people that did poorly don't study!
He is not a good teacher at all. The only way I'm doing okay is because I took Calc in high school. He's very rude and not personable at all. Very monotonous and boring. Tests aren't terrible,and homework grade is helping me.
professor stern is rude. he tries to make you feel like you know nothing. he offers no solutions when youre trying to improve your grade. if you care enough, youll push through his accent, but he is very spiteful and tries to make people look dumb. he acts as if it is a pain to be in class everyday. unless you are really good at calc dont take him.
Let's be honest, his accent isn't that bad. You'll get used to it. As for the actual math part, class is difficult to understand, but actually is pretty nice in office hours. His final was ridiculously hard, but the other exams were doable. He makes everything much more stressful than needed. Overall, I wouldn't take him again.
This professor is not bad as you guys say it. He is a great and helpful teacher. He wants his students to have good grades. He gives a lot of homework which counts only 10% of the final grade :(. However the homeworks helps a lot for the test. if you successfully do the homework , you will do great on the test.
Dr. Stern is is a great teacher although arguably he is also completely insane. He really wants the students to do well and seems to despair in the fact that some people are not in love with math. "Do many problems."
This professor is extremely condescending. He tells you to ask more questions in class, but makes you feel stupid every time you ask one. He tells you almost exactly what's on the test, but this means memorizing a ton of proofs and definitions. Would not recommend taking him.
Dr. Stern was sometimes mean to the students. He laughs at you when you're unable to answer his questions in class. The subject is hard but he does a good job at explaining the material. Tests are not easy, you have to memorize a lot of proofs.
for basic calculus he does much of the work mentally and does not fully explain things. if you aren't giving your complete undivided attention you will be lost. on the other hand though his tests are identical to the HW and he was never in the room while a test was given (easy to cheat)
He is the worst teacher I have ever had. I went into his office hours for help and basically pushed me out of the door. He yells at people in the middle of the class for not paying attention. He doesn't explain the problems, he just expects everyone to understand him. When people ask him questions, he acts like the person is stupid.
Dr. Stern is one of the best teachers I've had since being at Towson. I'm not very good at Math, but Dr. Stern was willing to spend countless hours helping me out. I would def recommend Dr. Stern if you want to learn the material.
Very tough teacher, but if you get him to warm up to you, he is great. I could even joke with him in his office! For the love of all things holy, do the homework and memorize the proofs though!
He sounds like the count yo goes too fast
I am not bad at MATH at all. I received an A+ on previous college math courses and Stern is just like his name. Besides the accent in the way, he is a terrible teacher. He is brilliant himself but should not be in this profession. I went to the tutoring sessions available in TU for well over 6 hours a week to be able to struggled to get a B.
He's one of those people that understand things on a high, complex level. If you do not understand math the way he does, he looks down on you and is almost surprised you don't get it. He constantly asked "why don't you get this?" saying "it's basic" to the class. Should tell you something when majority of the class isn't going to pass
Professor Stern is too smart for his own good. His vocabulary on the subject is far beyond the average college student taking calc for their first time. I would avoid taking him at all costs, unless you have already taken calc.
If you have a choice to take someone else, do so. Its one of those classes where you have to teach yourself, cause the teacher is so bad. Attendance every class. About 30+ hw problems a week that are graded. 3 Test including the final. The test were pretty straightforward, the questions were similar to the hw. Final was very hard.
Dr. Stern can be stern himself. If you do not understand, he will answer, You should understand this! I would suggest taking someone else.
I'm pretty good at Math, I got a high B in Calculus 1, but Professor Stern makes even addition hard. I've never had a professor quite like Lenoid. He mumbles consistently, is extremely rude to students who ask questions, and creates a hostileuncomfortable environment in his classroom. If all other classes are full, take the class next semester.
He's a good teacher. I had to withdraw from the class after screwing up on the first test, but that was mostly me not going to his office hours for the help that I needed. Stern's a pretty cool guy, his personality is just a required taste for some people. I'll take him again next semester for round two, and will definitely go to him more!
Professor Stern is a very smart guy. However, this is where he loses his students. He understands things so well that it becomes hard to follow what he's saying, especially during long lectures. Not recommended for people without prior exposure to course material. BEWARE THE FINAL! It's not cumulative, but covers A LOT more info than other tests.
He is difficult to understand at times and he gives a lot of homework.
Dr. Stern is a very smart guy, but his teaching is very hard to understand. He teaches using very technical mathematical terms that are quite confusing when learning new concepts. The homework is hard, but if you can do the homework you will do well on his tests. You really get out of his class what you put in. He makes you work for the grade.
He expects you to have a strong background in math. He moves so quickly through the topics and doesn't really write many of the steeps in between the question and the answer for the problem. I thin that he made calc 2 more difficult than it needed to be. In addition, he gives a lot of difficult homework but that makes the tests seem easy
Dr. Stern is one of the best teachers I've had since being at Towson. Dr. Stern was willing to spend hours helping me out. I would def recommend Dr. Stern if you want to learn the material
He spends time in class complaining about people being late or insulting people for not paying attention. He collects homework so don't expect him to answer any questions. if you don't know how to do whats in the homework then oh well gonna have to teach it to yourself. Overall he gives the impression he doesn't want to be there or help you.
This guy has a thick accent and talks pretty quietly so sit in the front if possible. He does have a rude attitude and doesn't express any emotions at all. His lectures usually do get confusing and I often find myself having to teach myself the material after class. He does offer office hours and he is willing to help.
Pretty hard to understand in class and gives a lot of homework. But to be honest he really really does help and make you understand everything if you go to his office hours. Hes not a bad guy... you just need to put a little effort and go to his office hours.
Never, ever take him! He is one of those people where all he will give you is a theorem or proof and from that everything should be clear. You should have no problem answering questions in book. Tells you to know these 5 theorems for test yet puts others on it, so you must study all theorems in the book. He Doesn't explain, just writes on board.
He is hard to understand during class, and mostly writes everything on the board, but does not explain. The class is based on 3 exams and homework. Most Test questions are directly from the book. He offers office hours but can get you confused easily. He is an ok teacher, and a nice guy, but I will not take a class with him again.
Dr. Stern definitely has knowledge about the subject but isn't able to communicate some concepts clearly. He's definitely a nice professor and encourages students to do well. Three tests that give you 85% of your grade are dangerous though; one slip-up and you can drop four letter-grades.
If you can take anyone else take them. This class move to online because of COVID-19 and it made the class even harder. He only graded the three exams and some quizzes. Good luck if you take him.
DO NOT TAKE HIM! Does not believe in using blackboard so he does not put in grades, you won't know what you have in the class until you check your transcript at the end of the semester. There are only two test so if you do bad on one you are screwed. More than half of class dropped the class. He's also very hard to understand so sit near the front.
worst professor you can possibly have ibn your life, never response your email until couple days later and not possible to meet after office hour. only grade stuff is midterm and final and quizzes.
Do not ever take any class he teaches. worst professor out there. Only grade final, midterm and quiz. Just not possible to meet him outside of office hour. and no review session. just avoid this professor.
I would rather volunteer to be in the hunger games than ever take this class again.
Very boring lecture style, very slow, not tech savvy. Quite an old man who knows his material, but it's not a great time. Not awful either, but if a better professor is available, take the better one. If this guy is the only professor alongside worse ones, at least he's not genuinely evil like half of the towson university math and compci profs are
Plz avoid him. If you do not like math truly, you will struggle
Dropped his class the first day because half the class could not hear him and he was being rude towards our class for not listening. He talks very quietly and calls on people a lot. Assigned a lot of homework on the first day as well
Was pretty difficult to hear for a lot of the class time, probably due in part to being old and having an accent. Exams hold a huge amount of weight, you cannot miss your homework assignments. Might end up wanting to teach yourself, depending on how easily you understand the material when it's initially presented. Find another professor if you can.
Good luck, on your second attempt.
His lectures were very monotonous and hard to follow. However, the homework was easy, and every exam was just questions taken straight from the homework. If you can do the homework and understand it, you will get an A. He really isn't as bad as everyone says.
I took this professor 2 years ago and still get PTSD when I see his name. He talks so quiet and has an accent it is very hard to keep up with what he is saying. If you want to stay sane do not take this professor
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
86%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.85 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH
5.0
(2)ALMOSTALL
5.0
(1)CALC
5.0
(1)CAL1
5.0
(1)CALCII
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MATH267
5.0
ABSTRACT
5.0
ABSTRACTALGEBR
5.0
MATH365
5.0
MATH211
4.7