2.1
Quality4.0
Difficulty15%
Would Retake109
Reviews15%
Would Retake
109
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
17
4
9
3
8
2
21
1
54
What Students Say
“I don't understand her teaching method”
MATH1C - 1.0 rating“She is the worst math professor I've ever encountered”
MATH1C - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
83%
Textbook Required
57%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
C+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.73 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH14
5.0
(1)MATH212
5.0
(1)MATH210
4.0
(3)MATH31
3.5
(2)114
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
PRECLAC42
5.0
MATH22
5.0
1C
4.5
MATH2A
4.5
MATH1D
4.5
Reviews (109)
There is no A+, if you do your best, but easy to get A. She really want her student to pass, so she gives lots of extra credit. And there are many pop quiz, so don't be late every classes.
very nice lady, get together with others for hw, notecard for tests, sheet of paper for final, pop quizzes every now and then, skill check is 5mins so come to class early, read the textbook - dont skip it, really thought it was a difficult class since i was struggling so hard... idk how i passed but thank you misako !
She gives out her own notes which is extremely helpful and makes the subject easier to understand. Her exams Q's aren't all based on her notes, u have to actually do hw and listen to understand. She is super clear and is completely willing to help any student. She's amazing! Fairly easy A. Get to class ON TIME for extra credit points.
She is very nice and patient to her students. She gives out her notes, greensheet, studysheet, worksheet to students. easy midterms and have extra points, easy A. Her course is Asian style and lots of Asian students take her class.
#2 on the waitlist and she told me to coming to the class, but at the end she just told me "sorry the class is 'full'". Pretty sure she's just too lazy to add since there are still seats in the classroom. She over think the easy question and doesnt really explain the hard one. Sometimes she will just tell the student who asked go home think again
I hated math, I mean it was my nemesis. But, Misako, somehow, made me enjoy it. Class was never boring, she has so much energy and is so fun. She explains things well if you tell her you are confused, and never makes you feel dumb. As a math degenerate I highly recommend her for anyone who doesn't currently enjoy math.
She gives a lot of extra credit point to help you out and lets you drop a couple of homework assignments and she is very clear on what is going to be on the midterm/final she has a thick accent but i didn't have trouble getting used to it. very funny
After taking this class, I now feel dumber. I have had bad teachers before, but wow never have I had a class that felt this tortuous. Maybe it's because I'm white. If you are Asian, you might pass her class, but white people beware. She has a thick accent and I could not understand half the things she was trying to say. Worst teacher ever!
I was expecting to have a good learning experience in Van Der Poel's class, but it turned out to be the worst class I have taken at De Anza. Even though she is a very nice person, but her lectures are confusing, It is intimidating to ask her questions, she has very inconvenient office hours, and her exams are harder of what they should. BIG NO!
I passed math 114 for the 3rd time with her. Although, she does have a thick accent, & she does know that herself, she will try to slow down & repeat herself if you don't understand. If you do have questions, do ask for her help. Her exams are difficult for me, but you do get to use one index cards on exams.
Try to avoid her if you can. Minus point for tiny mistake
Misako is one of the best professor who dedicates you to learn Math1A. She might be a bit picky in grading but what you can do is just learn from the mistakes you made in your worksheets and mid terms; your final should be ok since she would do a brief review.
Her classes are pretty easy to understand. you dont have to buy the textbook because she gives out her own notes(which you have to print out). You get 1 point for being on class in time, and 2 point for worksheet at the end of class(if there is no time for worksheet, you get 2 points for free). Homeworks are on webassign.
You need to show up nearly everyday to pass this class. No quizzes. 3 exams and a final. Scored average on the exams and bombed the final, but I still ended up with an A-. Straightforward teaching, but her accent is a bit thick. HW is due every week on WebAssign. Gives a fair amount of extra credit for people who show up early, not too much though.
She's noticeably trying her best by the way she corrects herself. Nonetheless, she's really good at alluding to her point; which is essential to teaching. Her accent may require some careful listening, but that's what you should be doing first and foremost.
easy A if you do all webassign hw. lots of extra credit. midterms are super easy if you practiced. Just teach what you need to know, not much concept stuff.
She is very nice and clear about test problems. Must do all homework on webassign since those are graded. Must do the study guide since most of the problems will be on the test. Would recommend for anyone who lazy to read book but want A. Otherwise she has little accent in her voice but it's understandable.
As a teacher, she isn't bad. You should be informed of a couple things, however. She will continually give you large study sheet packets to print out. She also uses Webassign, a terrible program, for homework (15% of your grade). Personally, I can't condone anyone who forces their students to use Webassign.
Misako is a good teacher. Print out the long notes she sends out and you will be able to keep up in class. Assigns a fair amount of webassign hw, about 3 a week. She asks to make sure everyone understands, and will go over any problem you need help with. Gives a practice test that is very helpful. Tests are average, but notecards are allowed.
I got my B.A in mathematics in Paris, but I wanted to transfer to USA and major in Cs here, so I came to De anza at first. She is the worst math professor I've ever encountered. She can't do math, those who likes her classes! Remember you can get A/ A+ if you take this class with other instructor!!!
she is somewhat mean, I get every answer correct but as she said "YOU DIDN'T SHOW YOUR WORK". I just want to remind her THIS IS COLLEGE! how should I show her that 1+12???????????????? she got confused herself in class, what kind of professor is that? her correct answers are full or errors... yet she tolerate none errors we made!!!!horrible!
her tests are not difficult, but be aware that her grading criteria is quite "unique", if you think you did everything right, you will find out she managed to give you a C or B, her lecture is long and boring, not because of the material itself, but she makes it confusing and tedious, like we are in elementary school.
very very repetitive, lectures are boring, homework is all online. You have to do your own math to figure out your own grade. Oh! btw, you don't need the textbook! you will need the access code though!
I loved this class! Van Der Poel is so engaging & passionate about math. If you want a teacher who cares about her students, take her! She gives pop quizzes but balances it out with plenty of extra credit. In-class review sessions before each exam. Printable lecture notes but you may still get lost/confused. You'll need to attend every class.
Lectures are very confusing and therefore quite boring, you need to self study a lot. She sometimes isn't clear to understand due to her accent. Also, if students ask questions that she doesn't understand she just moves on to the next topic or gives break to avoid answering the questions. She doesn't know how to teach, wouldn't recommend.
She moves fast, but so does the quarter. DON'T BE SHY. She'll take as much time as necessary but won't stop if you don't speak up. Grades fairly and is helpful with homework/extra credit to ensure you pass. She is aware of her accent and is happy to repeat. Uses good course materials. BUY THE BOOK, even tho it's "optional."
she's a nice lady, but if you are aiming for an A, it is difficult, not because the material is difficult or whatever, she makes it super confusing, and she is a tough grader, be prepared, if you think you can survive, think again.
I don't understand her teaching method. she makes it harder, and she only likes those who ask questions, no matter how stupid those questions are, a total waste of time. She is a tough grader, you have to finish your exams with every question correct, and 50 homework problems a week(average, sometimes more than 70), and all correct to get an A.
force you to buy webassign code, hate that! lowest grade ever!
if you are clever enough and want A, don't take her, if you are struggling with math, she will teach you and you can pass. honestly, she should be teaching classes like 43, because that kind of class requires more teachers like her, very thorough type.
A lot of homework, and she will give pop quizzes, no extra credit, sometimes delay her class. And etremely unfair. I spent everyday studying math, her materials are so confusing, and she curves down. Come on, it's a cc, not ucb.
She curves down for no reason. Materials are simple, but those calculations, you have to buy a super computer to get the right answer, and she puts 40 questions into a 2 hours exams, every single one requires at least 10 minutes thinking and calculating.
Her teaching style is bad. The homework and review will not help you in the tests and exams. She likes to taking away your point for dumb reasons
Awful teacher. If you think youre in the A-B range, you'll get C because grading system is unreasonable (every point counts!!!). I am a 3.9+ gpa student, I got A+s in all math classes before with other professors, but I got C even though I put forth the effort to do well. Her tests were average but her final was NOTHING like we had learned before.
never inform you about the quiz, wouldn't tell us whether it is a quiz or extra credit. unable to teach math, she will teach you how to use a calculator and how to do 1+1, but in the exam, she will through something she never taught, like differential equation, in advanced version.
Shes not very clear in her lectures but webassign and her printed notes helped alot considering I never read the textbook. You have to learn on your own if you want a good grade in the class which isn't hard if you actually try, if not, good luck. Tests seemed easy until you get your grade back and she docks off small pts that really add up -__-
awful prof
terrible teacher. can't explain well. make you print all the class note. some material on the test, she didn't even teach it. At the end of class, there's worksheet which u have solve her problems to gains points. Those points add up a lot if u miss couple of question. I recieved the lowest grade from in de anza because of her, -b.
She knows what she is gonna teach, explain clearly. Easy a if you do well on the exam, worksheet.(Group discussion). She also provides handout so you don't need the textbook, exams are straight forward if you did the practice exam.
she has a thick accent, sometimes hard to understand. She teaches you one way and ends up telling you not to do it that way. She knows what she is teaching but sucks at explaining the material. I wouldn't take her class again.
She's a good teacher in the sense she knows what she's teaching. Her biggest downside is that her exams are much harder than her classwork, homework, and practice exams.
She is very detailed on the work she goes over in class, but her exams are much harder than anything she covers in class or on the homework. There are quizzes regularly, about 2-3 a week, but they aren't worth too many points. If you're going to take her, just make sure you do the homework and then some, because she's a very hard grader.
Awful grader. Even if you got every answer right she can still take points off for millions of reasons. She made a lot of mistakes in class but she wants you to be accurate as a machine in the meantime. In order to get a perfect score you have to split hairs on every question even if it has nothing to do with math.
Good prof and very care about students. She could explain the question very clear but her test was very hard. Her few extra credit can not change the grade and some questions of the test are you never seen before.
Very scary... She hardly understand your questions and her tests are very hard--8 choices for mc questions. Try to avoid her...
Prof. Van Der Poel literally teaches what's in the book, even using the same examples. She's a stickler for notation and exact solving of each question. Every minor error means a point deduction. If you don't understand something she said, she gets annoyed and asks another student to explain. Be ready to pay $100 to turn in homework online.
She was not able to answer a lot of questions from students because she was not able to understand them. When she doesn't understand your question, she makes other students to explain, which is sometimes inaccurate and hard to understand because they are also puzzled by inadequate explanation.
Thick accent and just moves to hard tricky problems to give for your test. Has a complicated grading system of extra credit and quizzes and tests. Really beware of pop quizzes, it used to be open book, then it wasn't. Multiple choice tests-very hard and no partial credit for problems (150 pts)
Professor Misako Van Der Poel is great! I don't understand why most comments say that she is a tough grader. If you pay attention in class, participate, and ask questions you will do great! She lets you work with everyone around you in every single quiz, her tests are based on the study guide she gives you. I wish I had her this quarter again!
She's a genuinely a good person. If you go in after class to ask for help you can tell she really wants to help you . However, this means nothing since she is not a native speaker; you literally cannot understand her. She is also unforgivably strict on assignments, and will not accept anything from you if you are even five minutes late to class
Multiple choice tests,no partial credit, 20, 8-16 problem hw. Studying midterm for final is futile. doesn't matter how much material you can shove into a both sided cheat sheet You are screwed. Got tutored, did all the extra credit, showed up every class ON TIME, took notes still failed, Pass is possible if taking teacher twice.
Disgustingly strict, bad lecturer, doesnt answer hw probs throughly. I feel like there are still a lot of things I dont know before each midterm.
I took this class on Summer 2016 and the teacher is awesome. She does have a thick accent but you will understand her. Quizes are open book and can do in groups. All exams are based on study guides. Make sure you don't miss class, you participate, do your homework and study for exams. I would take her again. She's nice and great teacher!
she knows her material but she's absolutely horrible at teaching. makes you pay for webassign and gives test/quiz problems that she has never gone over. horrible at explaining answers to questions that you have.
One of my worst college professors ever. She knows that material herself but can't explain it at all. I wouldn't even recommend this class. You really need extra tutoring and like help from multiple people. She literally only explains things once and will ignore your question is hse doesn't understand it or she has someone else answer it.
I took this teacher for Statistics at De Anza and it was a rollercoaster to begin with. Constant shouting of "Stop Talking, You have a question?" and other little distractions that would get her off topic. Her lectures move at a slow pace and staying focused is hard due to her thick accent. Overall would not take again, nor recommend to anyone.
Worst professor I have ever had, do not take her course. She added no value to the course and I was required to teach myself the material. Some constructive feedback for her, spending the entire class going through problems without any lectures over the necessary concepts is not helpful and only causes confusion. Please add lectures to your courses
DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASSES SHE TEACHES. She should not be an instructor. Her classes do not make any sense, she asks students to explain problems even if we've never covered the material before. I had to hire a private tutor to get through her class because she did not teach and would not meet me during her office hours. Avoid like the plague.
Definitely has a thick accent and is hard to understand sometimes. But she's super caring. Ms. Van Der Poel would graciously stay after class and even after her scheduled office hours to support students and go through in-class problems. Very caring professor. Note: her tests are very hard and she does not curve. Practice, practice, practice!
Her lectures are easy to understand and follow and you can really tell she wants you to understand the curriculum, but her tests are really tough. She gives out a ton of homework that takes hours to finish and her tests are just as hard, if not harder than the homework. She doesn't curve tests, but occasionally gives out tiny bits of extra credit.
If you're not up for doing 10 hours of homework a week, don't take her class. Her tests are on a completely different level than anything else you learn, and she barely gives you enough time and I'm not exaggerating. And she doesn't curve either. I would be surprised if anyone was able to get more than a B in her class this quarter :/
This professor will be the worst professor you will ever take for Math. She isn't a very good teacher and on top of that she has a heavy accent that could make it hard to learn. Sometimes she surprises you by changing up the homework due date. No curves, no extensions, nothing. She likes to assign more homework when there is a test coming up too...
Prof. Van Der Poel explains the concepts well, but she assigns an excessive amount of work. You should expect to spend about 15-20 hours per week on this class. She will drop your lowest scores in each category, but with so many assignments, quizzes, worksheets, and exams, it is still incredibly difficult to get an A. (Final Exam is worth 30%)
Oof. Pretty much impossible to get an A. HW and exams were on WebAssign. Quizzes and final exam were on Canvas. A lot of quiz/exam/final exam questions were different from HW questions, so merely studying HW is not enough. Final exam was synchronous despite class being async and she didn't announce the date until the week before finals. AVOID!!!
I took Math 1B asynchronously. Exams are graded online, but even if the website makes a mistake she doesn't bother correcting it as it would be "unfair." Also, the final was over Zoom despite the class being async. There is a lot of homework assigned the week of the exams.
All she says is: Are you okay? I barley passed this class and math is my strong subject. I had to study hard for this class. No calculators during exam!! This teacher made me depressed
All she says is are you okay. Whenever you tryna ask questions to her, she throw it back to the class and ask if anyone can answer it like bro, we paid for your lecture, not for the class. Midterm n final requires a second device to "record yourself", even though im pretty sure ppl are just using a third device to cheat.
Pros: -Used OpenMath. Free for students -Was clear on what exams would cover -Flexible grading; if you did better on final, it will replace lowest exam score -lowest homeworks & quizzes dropped Cons: -Did not respond to emails -OpenMath was faulty; marked correct answers wrong on exams resulting in bad grade & she would not correct it
are you ok?????????? She assigns material that was not covered in the quiz/exam. The lowest scores in any category are not dropped. You need a second device for the exam to have the camera facing your back. She won't tell you how this works until the exam date and that exam date is way past the point to drop with refund.
She has a 2 weekly quizzes and requires 2 cameras for proctored exams. You need to screen share, and have a cam in front and behind you. Its wild as she thinks her whole class is cheating. On top of that she doesn't allow calculators so make sure your mental math is fast. Good news is that she doesn't require any expensive textbooks.
Self-study class. Sometimes puts questions from sections that aren't supposed to be on quizzes (3-4 questions in 1hr), but you get free points since she drops them. Exams are on a time crunch (10-15 questions in 1hr & 30 min). No cam needed. No partial credit for questions you mess up on except for problems that require work. Free on OpenMath.
DO NOT TAKE!!! Impossible to pass, nearly everyone fails her courses. If you have to take her for this course, please run the other direction or try another quarter, she is NOT a good teacher.
very disorganized.
Goes over basic concepts in lectures, but homework is ten times harder with no explanations. Online class so we had two devices in order for her to proctor our desk and screen. First midterm, had to submit work for two problems but ended up giving multiple people zeros because it was attached to the wrong page and just said to do better next time.
It's awful.
The professor deducts points unfairly for correct answers in exams. We are required to submit our workings for certain questions, and she strictly follows her marking scheme. Points are deducted if the required steps are not shown in the submission, even if the final answer is correct. Impossible to get an A!
First off, she is an extremely tough grader. Second, she always asks unnecessary questions during lectures. For instance, when we ask what chapters are covered in an exam, she asks the question back: "what do you think will be covered?". Bro how are we supposed to know? Why not just say the answer? She makes such easy situations painful and longer.
Ruined GPA
Only take this class if you are ready to self learn and mess up your G.P.A. She reads straight from the textbook instead of actually teaching and her knowledge of electronics is very, very limited for her online classes. Maybe if you take her in person, its not too bad but avoid her online course. Made account just to rate this professor. AVOID HER
Shows you how to do hw and test problems in class. Speaks loud and clearly, even with a mask on. Expects perfect notation on tests, don't forget dx when integrating. Gives an Equations sheet for tests.
Misako is an utterly terrible professor. So terrible that I am in the process of writing a petition to report her behavior to the mathematics department. She is an incredibly tough grader, makes mistakes during lectures, delegates questions to other students. She flunked a kid for having a broken wrist during the final. My first C. AVOID!
Shes hard. Very very Hard. However, shes also a good teacher who wants you to understand the concept, and shes very kind as well (if you're kind to her).
The class was very difficult.
GPA killer
took her 2A in winter. There were 36 students in her class, but only 4 students got A and 3 students got A-. Please avoid her if you are not math genius!!!
This class is an invasion of privacy. Heavy proctoring and if you are suspected of cheating, she'll go as far as to go to chat gpt and ask for your ip and user data.
This professor would put more effort into catching students cheating rather than focusing on teaching. Will go as far as reviewing exam footage as well as asking ChatGPT. Boring lectures as she reads out loud from the textbook. Exams are hard don't expect an A if you take her class.
ARE YOU OK????
An attendance-based class that doesn't reward you for showing up to class. Always ask if you are okay but if you end up asking her a question she will ask the whole class instead of answering your questions.
She is the worst professor that I have ever seen in De Anza. My suggestion would be to avoid her at all costs she is beyond terrible.
SHE IS NOT OKAY...
Her lectures were very unorganized.
"ARE YOU OKAY?" "OK!"
"We are okay!"
Not even bob the builder can fix her.
AVOID! For tests, she doesn't even bother giving partial credit or feedback, all she does is put a bunch of question marks and X's over your paper even if you do parts of the question right. She will MAKE SURE that you get points removed when you don't write out every single little detail or miss writing random notations that you wrote already
don't even bother taking this class. it will be a waste of your time. you wont learn anything from her and you will fail i promise you.
Probably the worst math teacher at DA and SJSU
She genuinely cares about her students & their understanding. She is a bit eccentric but that should not affect your learning. Spends a lot of time going through examples and as long as you participate, ask questions, and do the homework, you will be fine. Wish I could say more, but if you take her, do not let these other reviews misguide you.
Professor Van der Poel fostered a collaborative learning environment, encouraging study groups and offering help. However, the homework load was very heavy, and exam grading was extremely strict, with points deducted for minor formatting issues. The textbook sometimes explained concepts more clearly.
Professor Van der Poel was dedicated to student support, encouraging group study and offering assistance. However, the course workload was very heavy, with time-consuming assignments. Exam grading was rigorous, emphasizing precise formatting and prohibiting calculators. At times, the textbook offered clearer explanations of the material.
Lectures would be hard to follow. Get ready to just self teach yourself everything outside of class. Large disconnect in what was on the worksheets, lecture practice and homework compared to what was on the exam. Exam problems were much harder particularly algebraically, also practice that mental math bc no calculators. ARE YOUOK???
She's ok. She will definitely ask for class participation. She teaches well, but her exams are kind of tricky. Not really what she teaches. Could definitely do better in her lectures and be more clear. Also she's unintentionally funny ARE YU OKEYY??
Are you ok?
Tough grader but i think the final grade is about 10% higher than the points you earn on the tests. She is pretty funny and seems like a nice person. Bit of a focus on make sure you know your precalculus too. Sort of seminar style. Classes can be entertaining. Attendance is graded but it didn't count for to much.
For Calc 1 online: Lots of homework, attendance is not mandatory but counts for extra credit, tests are HARD. She's strict about cheating and makes you angle webcam so she can see everything, then reviews the footage after to make sure nobody cheated. are you ok??
She's very enthusiastic and energetic. Provides lecture slides and handouts. Exams are 85% of your grade and are difficult. Conceptual knowledge is required for exams. Attendance is mandatory and worth about 5% of your grade. Her exams are tough and grading criteria is strict, but she's not bad!
IMO she's very good at teaching, her lectures were helpful and she's super nice/open to answering questoins. Only con's I had with her is sometimes when I asked a question she would ask students to answer it instead of answering it herself.
she is niceee while u pay attention at her lectures u gonna be okay im bad at math but with her i could pass she gave practice practice problems before every exam(they are very helpfull and on the exam u will have same questions )she cares about her students 3 midterms and final exam(u can use notecard 3*4)final was with multiple choice
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
83%
Textbook Required
57%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
C+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.73 avg changeRatings by Course
MATH14
5.0
(1)MATH212
5.0
(1)MATH210
4.0
(3)MATH31
3.5
(2)114
3.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
PRECLAC42
5.0
MATH22
5.0
1C
4.5
MATH2A
4.5
MATH1D
4.5