2.2
Quality3.9
Difficulty32%
Would Retake100
Reviews32%
Would Retake
100
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
15
4
11
3
14
2
15
1
45
What Students Say
“There is literally no point in attending Trummer's lectures (besides the clicker marks)”
MATH152 - 1.0 rating“Insanely difficult exams”
MATH152 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
82%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.25 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH309
4.3
(8)MATH416
4.0
(2)MATH257
3.0
(1)MACM316
2.6
(21)MATH251
2.6
(10)Difficulty by Course
MATH251
4.4
MATH232
4.3
MACM316
4.2
MATH152
4.1
MA232
4.0
Reviews (100)
No Comments
Hahaha, good ol Mr T. His exams are crazy, but the curve helps a lot.
Good, provides good math culture
Easygoing, but exams are VERY hard
No Comments
anyone else think he smokes up everyday?
No Comments
horrible teaching skills, as he can't get down to your level.
No Comments
No Comments
No Comments
He is a great teacher, adn I learned more in his course than any other math course at SFU.
I didn't learn/understand that much and I thought I would do badly, but I ended up w/ a good grade..
not bad, he's material is not that hard and really helpful
great teacher, tough exam, curve always saves :-)
that was a course I enjoyed a lot, he he put a lot if effort in it.
No Comments
Tests and assignments are very fair. I like how the course is setup with 3 tests and a term project instead of a final.
good class!
Good prof. Put alot of effort into the class. Great marking scheme with no final. Tests were hard, so were the assignments, but everyone seems to have gotten perfect on the project, so everything was ballanced. Will definitely take another course with him.
very nice
snoozer
No Comments
Very friendly but CANNOT and SHOULD NOT teach. His lectures are 100% useless (have never said this about any course before). You will understand NOTHING, he just cannot explain/teach. Quizzes are not too bad, but unless you plan to study the book 24/7 stay away at all costs - worst teacher/prof I have ever encountered.
Couldn't understand a word he said
Worst prof ive ever had a class with! His lectures are completely useless because you actually dont even learn a single thing. Stay away from this prof because if you dont plan on getting a tutor or studying the text inside out, you will do poorly! Worst prof ever. Never again will i even think about this guys class.
The guy knows his stuff, however he's too advanced for an introductory math course. He's too far ahead that the way he teaches his class is like he expects you to know all this already and just be reviewing. I see people playing need for speed, no ones listening. Word to the wise, do NOT take math 157 with him, you WILL regret it.
His way of teaching is far too complicated and only intimidates students new to calculus. I follow the text book completely and it's much more straight forward. Too much of a push over and the entire class just talks while he teaches. The only point in going to the lectures now is because he is purposefully covering stuff not in the textbook. Fail
Never replies to emails and his lectures are impossible to understand. Don't take 157 expecting to learn anything from him. You will have to teach yourself the entire course.
added topics to syllabus that werent in the text book and expected you to practice the topic with the one question he gave for hw. lectures only made things more complicated than needed to be & online slides are useless. 1st quiz was fair, but the others nothing like hw. awful prof.
WORST prof
Worst professor ever. He seems to be getting good reviews from his other 300 level classes, but I am in his math 157 class right now and its horrible. Makes material much harder than necessary. Online homework is easy, but problem sets gets way too complicated. Again, do not take this class.
absolutely terrible prof.. didnt learn a thing from him and had to teach myself the entire course.
his writing is messy. his notes are unorganized and not helpful. he makes u want to chat during class. the whole class thurs becomes annoying. u cant learn anything for sure. do not take his math157 class. i guarantee u that u will regret if u do take his class
No Comments
He's an average teacher but it'd be nice if his notes were nice and his letters actually looked like letters. But on the other hand. He makes really good videos which are understanding.
Lectures are more of a social time for the students in the class because the way he teaches is incomprehensible. Those who liked mathematics before entering his class now hate math because he makes it so much more difficult than it is.
not a bad job, didn't just repeat the textbook stuff. Too bad so many students are so noisy - even at the last class which was voluntary. He should have kicked out these i*iots so the rest of us could have followed the lectures more easily. I'd take another class with him, but I am probably done with math...
Goes through material way to quickly. Does not make good use of our time. Makes uninteresting jokes he makes up in lectures.
DONT TAKE A CLASS WITH HIM!!! This class isnt that hard but he doesn't let you use even a simple calculator on the exam and then gives you the largest numbers to compute!!! It makes the test take forever and more difficult even if you know your stuff.
pretty much the worst math teacher ive had in my whole academic career, his notes are useless which means you got to learn from the book to survive. Midterms were alright but his FINAL was a 12 page nightmare! This prof is definitely STAY AWAY material.
SFU did a good job hiring this guy to teach a first year course. His teaching method filters out many students who don't work as hard.
TRUMMER IS THE NICEST GUY IN THE WORLD, but still his teaching style isnt that great...class is good for SMARTIES ONLY cause guaranteed more than half of the students will fail all the tests so if you get above average you're set! KILLER final was scaled so that a 42 was a D & 82 became an A+ so it worked out okay for almost everyone in the end =)
low class average will pull you up. all the exam questions are in the same format as the textbook or the questions he goes over in class. some people think he is useless because his writing his ugly. he is quite helpful and tries hard to make class interesting! people just give him low ratings cuz they are jerks and biased.
Mediocre professor. Teaching methods are not so great. The noisy students in the back made the environment worse.
lectures were a complete waste of time. i felt bad for this prof because he seems like a nice guy but his teaching style is TERRIBLE. the final killed everyone. unfortunately, i suggest staying away from this prof.
I don't know about the higher level courses but for 157 his midterms are quite easy and they just test your basic understanding. The final on the other hand is crazy hard, but he lets you use a cheat sheet for the final.
easy peezy lemon squeezy
Manfred is the worst teacher i have ever experienced in my life, i can't believe sfu would hire such a useless prof i am switching to ubc, ugh manfred i hope he gets fired, he doesn't deserve to teach.
materials are poorly explained. a huge difference between exams and assignments.
nice guy...not a very good teacher. wrote his own textbook....pretty hard to follow. it's pretty much formula formula formula graph formula formula formula..
Bad prof... nice guy but doesn't teach very well. 157 is a business math course but he went in depth with more advanced stuff that wasn't even part of the syllabus. Final was killer - time cruncher with 45% average, but he curved in the end.
Worst Prof at SFU
His writing is impossible to read. He wrote his own text book which is exactly the same as his lecture notes which is very very confusing. Better show up in the lecture coz his notes is useless and impossible to read what he wrote so have to listen to what he said. Didn't explain material very well. Class is boring
lectures were awfully long, and clarity was often an issue. Lectures were not mandatory, however beneficial to attend. Final exam was very difficult, covered material outside course content. However, curved nicely at the end. Wound up with an A- and close to an A
Although he just doesn't teach from the text book, and has his own way of presenting the material, his lectures don't in any way prepare you well for his exams. The final exam's average was possibly the lowest in history (24%). But it was curved fairly.
I quite enjoyed Dr. Trummer's lively, entertaining lectures, although they must be viewed as a supplement to the textbook rather than a replacement. His humour and love of calculus make his lectures can't-miss, but you must keep up in the book and do all the exercises in order to have a chance at killer exams. God bless whoever invented the curve.
You can't understand what the heck he is saying (STRONG swiss accent) OR writing(scribbles... just scribbles). He moves too fast and is a poor speaker. I found that his explanation of things I already knew made me confused. I stopped going after the 2nd midterm and relied heavily on the book and my friends to get me through this course with a B.
horrible prof. honestly, i'm not even done the semester yet, and i'm saying that this is a horrible prof. first MT, nothing near the difficulty of his lecture notes. gosh he talks with so much jargon (i know... you're suppose to know it, but seriously? word after word. kinda hard to understand if you don't speak matrix).
Well,to say honestly, he sometimes just speak in an undertone. Keep up to the screen or you'll be hard to catch up his messy notes...Accents okay, online assignments on LON-CAPA is not harsh as well as paper assignments...we'll see if his midterms are hard or not.
killer midterms and finals. material covered in class, and on homework assignments are no where near as difficult as the finals and midterms. STAY CLEAR OF THIS PROFESSOR. HE IS HORRIBLE
Let's just say this semester (2009 FALL) the average for his class was under 40%, that should clear up anything you want to ask :)
The course material is fairly difficult for most people and made even more difficult by killer exams. So far, 50% in the course is equivalent to a B, so everything is curved fairly.
Homework is based on textbook questions, however exams are based on what he thinks is a good indicator of knowledge. Don't take this course with this professor as you will not enjoy the course, lectures are pointless to go to, as you don't learn anything. This teacher is a great example of why SFU is underfunded, and will always be 2nd to UBC.
Notes are messy and sometimes misses the important details. He speaks as if you know all the math lingo. The exams weren't particularly hard, but they were quirky... Homework was okay, and there wasn't too much of it. Overall not worth waking up in the morning to go to class to. I self-studied a lot and did pretty well.
Awful prof, not recommended unless you can self learn.
Homework are easy but useless because half of the quiz problem are no where closed to homework.
In the beginning i was hopping the poor reviews were caused by a group of idiotic students, but however they are indeed correct. Altough he teaches in a friendly manner his lectures r very incoherent which is emphasized by his accent and frequent digressing. Lectures r useless. quiz and midterm r very diff and/or sometimes a much harder variation
This professor is useless. He does not know how to teach. His lectures are all over the place and the quizzes he gives only apply to one of the homework question out of like 20 so if you forget how to do that question its an automatic zero for that question.
Pretty much the worst teacher I have ever had at SFU. It is amazing how someone with such a lack of talent gets a job as an instructor. His lectures are incoherent and are not worth attending. My recommendation for anyone who is taking a class with him is skip the class and go watch math videos on youtube.
worst prof ever
He is the worst proffesor i have ever seen, Please do not even think about taking a course with him. He is friendly and tries his best to make us understand, but it is absolutely uselless. His finals are extremely hard and irrelevant.
I tell you what. If you guys have his class (MATH232) DROP NOW! else you wanna waste your time and money on him.
Lectures left you feeling you knew less than you did coming in. Explanations on concepts were abstract, if not non-existent, and homework was time consuming and very difficult. Tests were also very difficult. Overall, not a good prof.
A major problem with Trummer is that his notes are very incoherent, and lack any kind of structure or commentary almost as if you took the textbook, removed all the words, and left in only formulas and diagrams. Luckily the text was pretty good.
Although he is very polite and sweet, his midterms are extremely long and you have little time to do them. I did Calculus Sem1/2 beforehand and I feel like I am "unlearning" by going to his lectures. his handwriting is also similar to that of your local family physician. If you take his class, prepare to self-learn 100% of everything.
Everyone is talking about the latest horrible test. If he doesn't get fired, I will lose faith in this university.
Mumbles a lot and hard to understand, he speaks in a very monotone voice and you will leave the lecture hall more confused than coming in. Make sure you read and understand the lectures well as he is not the greatest teacher in the Mathematics department. Good luck to you. He also expects you to answer the 8 page midterms in 50 minutes or less.
This prof is beyond bad. Avoid any classes with him.
I used to be a happy person until I took this course with him. I don't doubt his knowledge of math, but he can't teach at all. Insanely difficult exams. Impossible to read his writing. Lectures are pointless. Take my advice please, do not make the mistake I did. It's 11 pm right and tomorrow is my final exam. It's over for me.
There is literally no point in attending Trummer's lectures (besides the clicker marks). He has the handwriting of your family physician even though his course is a severe detriment to your health. His extremely unconcise explanations leave you more confused than before. Worse yet, Webassign cannot make a decent video to save their life.
Manfred is not a very good prof if you are someone who learns better when someone is delivering the material to you. He doesn't speak clearly and I can understand why a lot of people did not do very well in this class. I was able to pull off a decent grade by studying on my own and using the textbook.
He does'nt teach well dont take him EVER Period
I have started this class and I can already see this man cannot teach. He clearly knows what he is doing but he is completely inept at transferring that knowledge to others. His textbook (written by him) is the same incoherent mess he calls lecture notes so the internet is required. Stick to research Manfred, leave teaching to better professors.
Honestly a very nice and lovely man. it was such a shame that some students were fooling around in the chats and distracted his lectures sometimes (online class). however he doesn't explain everything. my suggestion for people who are gonna take a course with him is to DEFINITELY read textbook BEFORE EACH LECTURE to understand. ITS CRITICAL TO DO!!
He is a nice guy personally, but not good at explaining concepts. He uses his own textbook, written by him which has lots of confusing words. I used to be A+ in calculus and algebra. His course is not self-learnable. No thorough explanations, poor choice of textbook, no way to check how hw&quiz answers are derive. Don't gamble with this instructor!
He comes off as a very nice and friendly person. But sometimes I wonder if he is just inept at teaching or trying to sabotage my learning experience. During lectures, he would be mumbling and twisting the simplest concepts or algorithms into something completely incoherent. Same goes for his lecture notes and his textbook. Avoid him at all cost!
While he is a very nice man he has made this class a nightmare. His lectures are only useful for the iclicker marks. His assignments are difficult and marked extremely hard. His textbook is by him and will skip steps with "we can easily see that X becomes Y" so it is as worthless as the lectures. He makes an already difficult class impossible.
Greater researcher; terrible lecturer. He's a nice guy, but he teaches the material like you already know it. Lectures are mandatory for iClicker marks, but otherwise useless. The class textbook is written him and skips many crucial details and explanations. I'm staying afloat by using YouTube. Take MACM 316 with literally anyone else.
Incredibly hard to follow the lecture, prof does outright horrible job of explaining subject matter. Logical leaps are often made and he takes it for granted that students understand the material better than they do in reality. First math course I have ever had difficulty with. Textbook is written by him and still awful, but better than lecture.
4/10 Teaching 9/10 Boomer humor
Although his lectures were a little fast, and some things could be explained better, he was a wonderful person overall. If you have any questions, he's always willing to go over things in more detail, which in my eyes makes up for the sometimes questionable lecture quality.
I came in with very low expectations due to the reviews on here, but ended up having a great learning experience. THE most caring and generous professors I've ever had. His lectures can be difficult to follow and he does often assume his students know more than they do. But he makes up for this with generous office hours and grading.
Not a really good lecturer to be very honest, but he's a caring and understanding guy. 4/10 teaching 10/10 boomer humour
First lectures regarding computer arithmetic were relatively hard to follow, however course content became a lot clearer when it came to the linear algebra and ODE sections. A very kind professor with regards to grading and the grade cutoff ranges were more than generous. Quizzes were a hit-or-miss, as some were very easy, while some very hard.
It is not an easy course but if you study hard, you can do a beautiful job. People can not expect a desired result if they don't even put effort on it. Go to office hour and tutorials, and post your questions on canvas discussions, Prof and TAs will come to help you very soon! They are quite supportive.
Lectures were hard to followed, but if you read through the text, thing became clear. Quizzes,Midterm,Final were not difficult as long as you done Homework. The course itself was supposed to be hard, but our class average was much higher than previous classes. Expect spending more than 10 hours a week to get an solid A+.
Certainly not really good at teaching but the course is quite difficult so don't expect to score great without studying. He is really considerate and goes out of his way to help the students!
He is kind and cares about our success. His lectures aren't very comprehensible from the first go, however upon rewatching youtube videos at 1.5x speed the material becomes clear. Have I taken macm316 live I would probably be totally lost. Trummer is very considerate and he made sure we do OK during this hard covid time.
Caring, inspirational professor who cares about his students and the material presented. Spend time on the material he teaches, be curious, ask questions - he will be there to help you. Steep learning curve, but overall, best course I have ever taken. Learned a lot.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
82%
Textbook Required
75%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.25 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH309
4.3
(8)MATH416
4.0
(2)MATH257
3.0
(1)MACM316
2.6
(21)MATH251
2.6
(10)Difficulty by Course
MATH251
4.4
MATH232
4.3
MACM316
4.2
MATH152
4.1
MA232
4.0