2.6
Quality4.2
Difficulty33%
Would Retake133
Reviews33%
Would Retake
133
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
133 total ratings5
22
4
21
3
19
2
25
1
46
What Students Say
“One of the worst profs I've ever had”
MATH100 - 1.0 rating“He loves when students ask questions”
MATH101 - 4.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.60 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH342
5.0
(2)MATH412
4.5
(2)MATH121
4.3
(3)MATH422
4.0
(1)MATH253
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MATH422
5.0
MATT100
5.0
MATH105
5.0
MATH312
4.8
MATH322
4.8
Reviews (131)
He is an incredibly knowledgeable professor (as most are), and has a true passion for what he teaches. I enjoyed having him, but the only problem was sometimes he seemed disorganized, as in the middle of a proof sometimes we'd side-step off to a lemma.
I took 422 with him which is a the amazing elegant theory of fields and groups.this guys is very knowledgeable and sharp. He teaches you the way to do math and think about math and the attitude you need for algebra. Our course was very hard and very long homeworks But since it was good material all was fun :)
He is a great mathematician but an awful teacher.
I don't understand any of his lectures; they are all above my head. The homework he assigns are next to impossible to do by yourself. I always have to go into the annex building for help. His tests get scaled after each midterm b/c the test scores are so low. I like his passion for math; that's it. :)
This man ruined my life! Do not ever ever take his class unless you WANT to fail. The only way you can do well is if you already know all the material. He's very knowledgeable, il give him that, but he has absolutely no idea how to teach. Quizzes, problem sets, and exams are very hard. GET OUT OF HIS CLASS WHILE YOU STILL CAN IF YOU ARE ABLE!!
He teaches to genius'. He believes that everyone should be as smart as him and is impossible to follow. He brought in a TA to teach one day and he outperformed him immensely. He doesn't listen to student suggestions and he comes off as arrogant and higher than everyone else, could be because he attended Princeton and Harvard. Youtube vids > him.
this was the worst teacher ive ever had in my life i would litteraly go to class and just read my textbook which wouldnt help because he would give the hardest questions on the midterms. On both midterms we had a failing average!!! i went from getting a 98% in AP math to a 70% in the exact same course!!! EXTREME CAUTION
He is a very smart guy but has no clue how to teach, he makes the midterms and problems sets about material he has not tought. He is one of the worst teachers I have ever had in my life!
Very poorly taught class. Gives examples that are not relevant to any of the curriculum and creates test and problem sets involving none of the material he poorly taught. When he puts questions on the test that no one gets he says "it was assigned in the reading" eventhough he never mentioned it before. A disappointing class
terrible professor, i had the choice of switching into silberman's section or another sections. Looking at the ratings i chose this professor, he was the absolute worst professor. I went to another section's lecture instead because this guy was so terrible.
no comment
a TERRIBLE prof. He is too smart to the point where he doesn't understand why we don't understand.
If your IQ is less than 150, do not take his class. Stay away and thank me later!
Really Helpful and reasonable Prof.If you wanna do well in hsi class you can, he is really willing to help.He does tend to make thing a bit more complicated than needed(but for ur own benefit) but if u read the textbook and really listen you should be able to follow. Midterms are hard but doesn't matter class is scaled at end according.
He fails to explain theories where he makes his explanations more complicated than needed even in office hours and thus, his classes become boring and ideas that he cover become abstractions at an astronomical level.
He is a great professor. Is very good at connecting different areas of mathematics, and showing you how to think about things at a new level of abstraction, which although difficult can be incredibly rewarding. Given the chance I would definitely take a course with Lior, and would suggest to anyone who is mathematically inclined to do the same.
His teaching style is designed towards people who have done the readings, and his lectures are designed to cement in what you should have already looked at yourself. If you dont pre-read you'll be lost, but otherwise you'll do fine.
worst worst WORST prof I have ever had. He NEVER EVER listens to student's suggestions or advises.
WORST prof. ever in my life.He never explains the concepts clearly. When students ask why, he says "I know it works." Hard exams and assignments. No partial mark for the exams.He doesn't care about students' suggestions and advice. Impossible to follow him in the class and even not helpful in his office hours. HORRIBLE.
I really would rate a negative score on his teaching. He taught 30% more material in summer than in regular term, and give extremely hard homework question and exam question. A group study might take over 15 hours to do one problem set, and still not getting the rite answer! Fail to explain his thought and logic "um~i mean~ you know, i just, imean"
CAUTION!!! DO NOT TAKE THIS PROF!!! NEVER! He is very knowledge, but fail on teaching! Can never follow his logic and thoughts while looking at his notes. He assume you have a fully understanding on all material you have learned in your life!!! He use material from other courses to trick you without any review(even from high school)
worst prof I hav ever had. hard exams and assignments. never reply email if you have any suggestions. failed to explain theorems in class. EXTREMELY CAUTION!
Had him for a week now. His beard is pretty cool.
He's a cool teacher and his lectures make me want to go deeper with math, but it might be too much of a risk of tanking your mark for a non-math major to justify.
I liked him. But here's a hint for success in math312: ignore the official textbook and get "A Concise Introduction to the Theory of Numbers" out from the library. The first 35 pages contain everything you need to know for the course (except cryptography)
Tough as nuts, but very rewarding. If you are confused, he will gladly point you in the right direction, but won't tell you the answer, which is nice. Expect very very hard midterms and exams, but worth it in the end.
Really tough professor, but also very passionate about mathematics. Take him if you love mathematics and want the challenge.
Challenging, but an absolute BOSS. You'll never forget his legendary lectures. And remember to be "clever"...
Lectures were almost incomprehensible, even when the topic could have been explained much better. Problem sets were very challenging, but helped in understanding. There was significant upscaling, so don't worry much if you're around the average. In the end I was glad I took the course, because it's interesting and gave me experience in rigour.
Easily the most passionate and knowledgeable professor I've had in any subject. He has very prepared lectures and homework, periodically gets feedback from students, and ACTUALLY LISTENS TO IT, and pours a huge amount of time into making his classes great. I don't like math that much, but this was my fave class just because of him.
He is a very helpful professor,but in the marking is a little bit strict. I feel very lucky to choose his class as I really learnt a lot of useful skills. Also,in the lecture, he always asks whether there is any questions, a really nice professor.
he is good very nice
His explanations are so poor and unclear. He goes off on tangents about things that don't matter at all. Assumes students know everything already. If you get him, RUN. Your GPA will thank you.
The worst prof I've ever had,I actually had credit for this course,but took it in order to get a 90+ mark to boost my GPA,didn't get anything better than a B You won't learn anything at his lectures, goes through questions very quickly and even when you ask he doesn't answer you properly,with his hard midterms, he ruined my grade,DONT TAKE HIM
He was a really caring and helpful professor. I loved his enthusiasm about mathematics and how excited he would get when there was a question.
This class made me hate pure math. His handwriting was difficult to read and the pace was very fast. Assignments are near impossible unless you have some natural talent for math. I went to his office hours multiple times, unfortunately he was late almost every time I went. However, I could have worked harder.
His accent is so hard to understand. He also teaches really fast and his notes are just a mess. If you ask for help, he is more than happy to assist you, but I would avoid if possible.
One of the worst profs I've ever had. He is willing to help in his office hours, but unfortunately he is not able to!
The course material is difficult but it definitely feels that it could have been taught much better. The pace of the class is very fast, and I highly recommend to NOT take notes. Lectures should be spent paying attention to the board and the professor. Lecture notes are provided online but are not detailed and unorganized.
Prof. Silberman is an incredibly helpful professor. He is always willing to answer any remotely math related question, but is prone to going off on tangents about the questions. The quizzes are really tough, but that is not up to him to decide. Sometimes his lectures were really slow, but most of the time he did a solid job of covering the content.
Lior was an excellent professor. His explanations were very detailed and rigorous, and his homeworks highlighted the concepts in the class very well. Overall, I learned a lot more in this class than I expected to. Lior was also very helpful in office hours.
Not the best lecturer. Ask questions in class. That is the only way to slow him down. Even if you don't know what question to ask, just ask him to please explain that again. He told me to say that and it worked. Go to his office hours. Things become much clearer. He is a friendly soul and is always willing to help.
He was not very clear on the subject material and further explanations generally left you more confused. The course itself was a mess as well the switch from midterms to quizzes biweekly was a mistake and they had no practice quizzes. The prof often had to rush through certain material because he had poor time management. enthusiastic about math
Decent math prof. He loves when students ask questions.
Math is always a difficult class to take but Lior does his best to answer students' questions. Ask questions if you ever get lost, but the best way to do well is to do the practice problems in the CLP.
I am writing this as I am sitting in his class at this moment. Hes a cool guy. Reminds me of Mr Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb
His lectures provide a lot of insights into the field of Abstract Algebra. If you do not particularly like Maths, and are not be willing to work hard, don't take his class. His homework is surely difficult, but it is rewarding if you truly want to learn.
Clearly a very smart guy, but absolutely terrible at teaching. His handwriting is hard to read, and he is not good at answering students questions. His notes are very difficult to follow. His explanations are very confusing.
He's wonderful and is enthusiastic for questions, will explain things to you more in depth during office hours if you are having trouble, 10/10
Lior is a pretty great guy. He's a little awkward but means well and is super enthusiastic about math. Goes a little fast when explaining things at times but that's my only complaint.
Great prof, handwriting is not the best, some complain, but if you're following in class it's not hard to get what he is saying.
Teaches well and very open to questions and doubts, but exams are quite tough. There are better options, but you wont regret even if you take his class.
Professor Silberman was a great math prof! His passion and excitement for math made class exciting and fun to attend. His explanations were detailed and helped deepen my understanding of the course material. He is always willing to answer questions and prints out worksheets for everyone every class. Would definitely take again.
He doesn't teach, he literally just spouts formulas and gives a pathetic attempt to explain them which nobody understands. Wouldn't recommend going to classes, you're better off learning from the textbook but at least he records all his lectures. The semi-good news is you can rewatch them multiple times until you understand.
Although the course could be tough at times, Dr. Silberman provides ample resources for his students to succeed. Interesting applications to other parts of maths and physics are also included in HWs. He is very friendly and ready to help students looking for advice. If you are interested in learning serious maths, this is a great place to start!!
Dr. Silberman clearly cares about students. He is accessible outside class regularly. However, he is not the best at explaining things because he is very pedantic. Stick to doing the CLP and you should be fine.
Silberman is a passionate prof, but his delivery is off. He needs to work on being concise/relevant with his material and be more organized! His writing is often referred to as "chicken scratch;" complete garbage and unreadable. I'm often tempted to skip lectures and just study the textbook or get support from friends.
Lior is hard to understand and over complicates basic calculus. He is passionate and nice which is good, but his 2 hour lectures are unbearable and overall have learned nothing. 0/10 would not take again.
- doesn't explain concepts well - assignments and exams completely different to lectures and tutorials
Prof. Silberman was a wonderful prof for MATH100. He truly loves the subject, and is always ready to answer questions. While the course material is difficult, as long as you use the dozens of resources he provides and attend his office hours, you can do it! I struggled initially, but his explanations are clear and he truly cares for his students.
Very passionate about teaching and greatly encourages student initiative both inside and outside of class, but lectures could be improved in terms of structure.
The professor clearly is passionate about math. However, there are some people who are smart, but unable to explain in a manner that the average person can follow along. The one time I stayed after a lecture to get some clarifications, he just got frustrated that people didn't already understand the concept.
Lior is passionate about math and always encourages students to ask questions. However, the lectures are just extremely difficult to understand. Success is definitely possible, just do textbook practice questions, past exams, web-work assignments, and written-assignment style questions. I like how the grade is spread across many assessments.
It's hard to tell if Silberman is a good prof, because his teaching is overshadowed by the awfulness of the course. The material learned in class is a very small baseline of the super difficult open ended final, also they are constantly reformulating the course, so its hard to say if this review is even relevant to next year.
Lior is a nice guy who is clearly passionate about the subject but heavily lacks ability to communicate concepts clearly. Within the first month class attendance dropped by half and the course is practically self study. Math100 as a whole requires a significant amount of work to even pass and the final exam acts as salt on the wounds of students.
Lior is a very kind and seemingly knowledgeable professor who is more than happy to help you if you ask. However, he does not communicate mathematics very well to the average first-year maths student; many students prefer to skip his lectures and learn the material themselves.
While I love his passion and knowledge of math, I must admit he might not be the best lecturer. The lecture was difficult for me to understand although I took AP Calculus in high school. However, if you decide to go to his office hour, he will try his best to help you understand the concepts.
Super passionate about the subject but is an awful lecturer. Most of the students stopped going to class halfway through the semester because of his inability to relay concepts in a way for most students to understand. Calculus in high school was not a prerequisite but he taught as if it was anyway.
Lior is a very enthusiastic teacher with a wide range of knowledge. His energy is infectious, though it can become quite difficult to follow his lectures. As a result one may need to lean on the textbook a bit more. Homework is difficult, but not unusual for an honours class.
Dr. Silberman is really passionate and has amazing energy but he is an awful lecturer. I stopped going to class two weeks in because I genuinely started feeling more confused the more I tried to follow along with his lectures. The course itself is hard enough since it's a weeder, and he really did not make it any easier.
Talks fast without any stops so it's hard to catch what he's saying and really overcomplicates concepts.
Absolutely lovely course in algebra ruined by the last bit in analysis, which was a bit too application-heavy for my tastes. Wish I was a better student and could understood more from the lectures, as they were often very quick and tough to digest.
While a very caring and passionate man who is very eager to answer any questions, he is not a very good lecturer. He is very hard to follow due to the speed of his talking and the tangents he often goes off on. His writing is also nearly impossible to read and his teaching is a very convoluted version of the textbook.
While the professors seems to be knowledgeable within his field, he lacks any ability to communicate concepts clearly to first years. He fumbles and mixes his words resulting in no one understanding what he is saying. During lectures he forgets to adjust the position of his notes often, resulting in him explaining something that no one can see.
I love this man. He is so funny. Other people are right that his lectures can be confusing but if you preread and then go with acceptance that he might confuse you you'll have a great time.
The way Silberman 'teaches' feels like he's under the assumption that everybody in the lecture hall has the same level of intelligence. He does not explain concepts in a coherent way, mumbles a lot, scratches his work a lot making it hard to follow along when writing notes. You're better off switching into Drago's lecture.
His lectures were extremely confusing and difficult to follow. I left each lecture more confused compared to when I entered, even for units I considered myself good at. Honestly I benefitted more from skipping lectures and watching organic chemistry tutor videos. Would not recommend him especially if math isn't your strong suit.
Go to Dragos, I personally was just left confused after attending Silberman's lectures.
Each lecture was very engaging, and you could tell that he was passionate about mathematics. He often brought up more advanced applications to each week's lecture material, which prepared us for higher-level classes in math. He clearly conveyed the material and made note packages for each lecture, made with many practice problems.
Clearly passionate about his craft but comes off as a confusing lecturer. Hard to read handwriting that is often out of frame, leading to him to spend several minutes explaining a concept that nobody can read. Typically overcomplicates concepts and I often left lectures confused. Stopped going halfway through. Just go to Dragos instead.
TESTS ARE HARD for this class!!! Even I took calculus in high school I still found the 3-4 stars question tough! Dr.Silberman was a very passionate prof, he might be a good mathematician, but I don't think he's a very good teacher. BUT TESTS & ASSIGNMENTS ARE HARD!!! DIFFICULT!!!
His lectures are confusing, even if you have taken calculus. He talks as though everyone in the room is at the same knowledge level as him. He accompanies his ranting with scribbled handwritten notes that are hard to decipher and often the audience is left to catch his mistakes. He seems like a nice guy but he needs to work on his teaching strategy
goofy, misunderstood guy
Professor Silberman has an excellent attitude and enthusiasm towards teaching his students, but his method of lecture and explanation is just not understandable at all. He uses difficult analogies and sometimes his lectures are not well-layered out for the material to be understood.
Professor Silberman had an excellent attitude and enthusiasm towards his students. But his method of explanation was just not understandable. He would use difficult analogies and sometimes his lectures are not well-layered out to understand the content itself. Overall, enthusiastic and friendly professor but doesn't have a good approach to educate
Lior is really kindhearted and shows a lot of enthusiasm during the lectures, but he makes the lectures so difficult to comprehend even to those who already learned calculus prior to the lecture. Answers to questions were also vague in my opinion and he constantly starts the lectures with difficult questions without much explanations of the steps.
Dr. Silberman is a very enthusiastic and friendly guy, but does a terrible job of teaching in his lectures. He talks and writes really fast which makes taking notes basically impossible. His writing is unreadable, and he often forgets to move his paper under the document camera. His lectures were generally very fast paced and confusing.
Stopped attending lectures after week 3 to avoid confusing myself any further. I already found this course challenging since I didn't do Math 12/ Calculus before uni. Passionate lecturer but moves very quickly and assumes you know everything, was very poor in conveying any information and messy notes. Was better off learning from videos online.
Lior is clearly passionate about math, however, as someone who had never seen calculus before MATH 100 I was completely lost and had to find a private tutor, and even when I thought I understood something Lior managed to overcomplicate it, I only started feeling confident in my abilities after I stopped attending lectures.
Horrible teacher, but has a spot in our hearts.
QUESTION,The goat
He knows what he's talking about and makes sure to tell you when you will use math concepts in actual engineering scenarios. He sets you up to succeed in midterms by teaching you only the relevant material.
Dr. Silberman is a really amazing, friendly professor which is also extremely passionate about math. Although many fellow MATH100 takers were not able to understand his ideas because of the fast-pace lecture, once you grasp what he is talking about you'll find his idea really smart and that will help a lot on your journey discovering calculus!
Absoutely terrible
early
skip this guy
Lior is the most energetic instructor I've ever met. He interacts with learners very often in class and solves our confusion promptly. Sometimes he was so absorbed that may forgot the slides, but if you follow his pace you can earn wonderful learning experience.
Dr. Silberman is the sweetest prof alive. He is so passionate but he is very confusing especially if you do not do the textbook readings/problems. I had to teach myself a lot but he is very nice and approachable.
He has a pretty thick accent so understanding him is little hard; he also would not explain concepts very well and would move through things very quickly and was a little harsh/critical when answering questions. Not super strong with technology either, his dot cam would cut off his writing a lot and he wouldn't realize even when people shouted out.
His lectures are very different from other sections. I think he is a very detailed prof and likes to dig deep into the backgrounds of things. I found this cool but not very helpful since we didn't really cover anything in the CLP. Very textbook heavy- make sure you reading the textbook before and after class.
if you are unfortunate enough to have Silberman, just go to a different lecture. This prof has an unworldly obsession with asymptotic and linear approximation. I have never learned math where the simplest of math problems are made unnecessarily complex and hard to follow by using such ridiculous methods of evaluating them.
he cannot speak english. terrible lecturer cannot understand anything he says. you will understand more by skipping.
BAD, incoherent, etc.
One of the most awful Professors in UBC. AVOID.
Lior is a cool professor, but you need a solid foundation in calculus/ Math 100 topics before taking this class. The speed that he teaches at is ridiculous, and you cannot learn properly during them because he goes at a fast pace. He makes some funny jokes and urges people to ask questions if they have any though.
If you have not taken Calculus 12, steer clear of this Math 100. Condescending when asked questions. Yells math at you for 2 hours straight. European accent, very messy handwriting. Notes are all handwritten and often times class is unsure what he is writing in between scribbles. Lectures are not worth going to, just do the online weekly homework.
awful handwriting
for your own sake, stay away generationally bad
if you want to learn this course by yourself, take lior silberman!!
WORST professor at UBC but his accent turned me on every lecture lowkey..
He is very passionate and knowledgeable about the subject
General tip is you should try to watch a video on the material before attending lectures. The first couples lectures with asymptotic are horrible, but after the chain rule he really started to teach in a way that was understandable. He commented on every piazza post like no other and tried to help students even if he was way to high level for them.
Lior Silberman was SO BAD. I took AP Calculus and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to take Math 100. He's really hard to understand and complicates everything. I ended up stopping going to his lectures by the third week and joined my friend's section instead.
he tried his best
His accent was not difficult to understand, nor his handwriting. The first few weeks of lecture were difficult to understand but if you can get through those, he does clearly explain and go through examples. Before finals, he held review sessions and those 500 seat lecture halls were full. Do the weekly homework and you'll be fine.
Professor Silberman moves way too quickly through his lectures. His notes were very messy, and he has an inexplicable fascination with asymptotics and linear approximation. However, he is easily accessible outside class, and he is clearly very passionate about what he teaches.
Excellent! I think this prof gets a bad rap because the courses they teach are just really hard and homework heavy courses at UBC. But Silberman personally is an incredibly caring professor with engaging, loud lectures. He always takes the extra step in office hours to make sure students understand, staying to chat 1h+ after every lecture.
No good, but not terrible. Handwriting is atrocious, lectures are heavy and not too engaging, but at least he's passionate about what he teaches. Always responds to Piazza questions (to some degree). Doesn't work closely enough with course coordinators to answer or assign reasonable work. It's gonna be tough if you've never seen calculus before.
Math 100 is a difficult course. Regardless of if you have taken calculus in high school or not. Lior makes it slightly more difficult as some of his explanations are not very clear in the introductory portion of the course however he is one of the best profs for the latter half of the course in his explanations.
Good professor, a bit confusing at first but his later lectures were a lot better in my opinion. He's very approachable outside of class and is always there to help in office hours and on piazza.
I admire his enthusiasm and knowledge with math but I felt like the content learnt in class was inadequate and did little to help with the tests. His explanation are quite confusing where I only picked up the basics and often had to self learn the content as I did not understand his teachings and notes.
Dr. Silberman is an ok professor, the course content is very intricate and he does his best to some up the key points. He offers quite a few opportunities to ask questions inside and outside lectures and can explain things well one on one.
He often spends time on material that is not tested on and goes off on tangents. He is also a bit confusing during lecture
Lior was a nice prof, but the lectures were long and so compacted with new material. A lot of the material is very new to students. There's always so many webbwork questions too, that take a couple hours to finish. Overal this prof is nice but didn't taught well enough, but to be fair math is a very difficult subject to take.
He is a very enthusiastic person, and seems like he is passionate about the subject he is teaching. But that won't help you to actually understand, and enjoy the lecture. His teaching makes things bit too complicated, and will bore you to sleep. Try to not to take his classes especially if you don't know the topics beforehand.
Actually very willing to answer questions outside of class; he genuinely wants his students to understand the content
Professor Silberman is a passionate teacher, but his fast pace and thick accent can make the class challenging. Staying on top of the textbook and using tools like Unstuck ai for study prep are key to succeeding. Overall, a rewarding experience for engaged students.
Liar seems like a nice guy. He's clearly really passionate about the subject, but sometimes that makes him hard to follow, especially in a 100-level course. I thought the lectures were too long and overwhelming. I found the course hard. Not even necessarily the content, just the environment to learn in.
Lior is generally a nice guy and wants to help his students learn, but it seems like he teaches MATH 100 as if the students are interested in pure math, while the course itself is designed for science and applied science students to take. He focuses a lot of conceptual understanding of topics and less on practical applications.
he had some obsession with linear approximation. like all first year math courses, you can't solely rely on your prof because you will not learn or understand. you have to be very proactive with your own learning. if you can independently do the webworks you're set to do good overall.
Enthusiastic prof; Dr. Silberman has a passion for math, but tends to overcomplicate concepts covered in this course. His accent can be difficult to understand, and his handwriting isn't great either. Not a horrible prof, but I would suggest seeing another prof if lost in his lectures.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
16%
Textbook Required
64%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.60 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH342
5.0
(2)MATH412
4.5
(2)MATH121
4.3
(3)MATH422
4.0
(1)MATH253
4.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
MATH422
5.0
MATT100
5.0
MATH105
5.0
MATH312
4.8
MATH322
4.8