So hard to follow lectures

Prof struggles/unable to read her audience or meet the needs of students in her class. Very very difficult to follow lectures. Assignments difficult and neither she nor TAs can assist effectively with the problems assigned. TAs looked at problems, shook their heads and said they didn't know what the solutions were. You're on your own in her class.

At this time, I have assignments I handed in up to 2 months ago still not marked. This is unacceptable. I little idea of how I'm standing in this course. I also tried reaching out to her over email over an error in a problem set, using the email she provided us - no response whatsoever. I wish her well, but please choose another prof if you can.

Avoid at all costs, I don't have any clue whats going on and neither does she

If 1 wasn't the worst rating then I could have gone for less. Been here for 3 lectures and the only thing I have in mind is "How did I end up here?". You can barely comprehend what she says during lecture due to her accent and (likely) lack of context. For the most time I can observe 80% of the class just either sleep or do other classes' stuff.

Very thick accent and doesnt teach what is on the assigments or quizzes, be prepared to just study for this class by yourself.

I don't like complaining about accents, but you can not understand about 1/3 of what Lana says and she very frequently does not understand student questions. Take this class with anyone else if you can, taking it with Lana is a severe disadvantage and this is not an exaggeration.

Not a clue what she says, looses her train of thought everytime, I had no choice to take this class, would never recommend, cant blame her, shes just doing her job, the university needs to hire professors that actually teach and not waste 3 hours of my life each week

I am not from Canada so I can say this, I don't know what this woman is saying in class, and yes it is her accent. For a class on discrete which is already a sub-category of English, the thick accent does not help. I mean this with love (not really), not hate

we have a midterm the first day after reading week. currently we have received no feedback on the first assignment, the quiz we wrote a week ago which was automatically graded cannot be reviewed, and the prof has posted no solutions for any of the homework or midterm practice. Svetlana is terrible. She is the worst prof in the faculty. AVOID HER!

Horrible to follow along during lectures,barely understandable through her thick accent even when actively trying to focus and comprehend the material. You'll have better luck understanding the textbook than her mismanaged ramblings. Good luck with getting feedback on any assignments even 1 month later. Do not take any other classes with this prof

👎👎👎👎👎

man idk what's happening in class cant understand her im most likely to drop the course

Disappointing. She provides no value as a teacher whatsoever. Her course is a haphazard exercise done with no care for student's well being or education. She reads over her own poorly scratched notes of another prof's textbook while providing no new perspective on the material. When taking this professor, expect to direct your own learning. 0/5.

"no more than one unmarketable tomato" ahh professor

She expects us to read her poorly written lecture notes that is being written in blue pen, making it harder to see what is written. On top of that, I cant really understand her sometimes so its harder to understand the course material. If I could, I'd give her a 0/5. Absolutely horrible. If you have any other option, please choose that...

Impossible to understand, gave up on attending her lectures. Doesn't post solutions to anything, TAs are also instructed to not provide help for assignment questions. Overall a terrible professor, avoid at all costs. Only took her because she was the only prof teaching this course in the winter.

heavy accent -> hard to understand. Grading takes a millennium and lectures seem all over the place.

AVOID TAKING CLASSES WITH HER AT ALL COSTS

-After the first lecture, no one came to class anymore after realizing that it'd probably be better to learn online LOL -Severely late in releasing your grades so good luck getting feedback in time for your next assessments -Unorganized :(

I took her mainly because she was the only professor teaching the course, she is so bad. 90% of them time you don't get what she say, she gets lost in her explanations. If I could advice you please don't take the course with this prof, she's so awful. It's such a shame that the university will employ such professor. RUN AWAY FROM HER !!

Thick accent, has no idea what she is explaining. Her lectures are a PDF scan of a piece of paper handwritten in blue ink. You cannot decipher anything on that paper. Completely disorganized.

the midterm is tomorrow and we are getting messages TODAY from the TA telling us to ignore certain questions on the midterm review because the professor did not understand the problem. this class is a gong show you will lose several grade points taking it with svetlana

Absolutely atrocious, the 2804 discord group and TA's are the real mvps in her class cause you get nothing from trying to learn from her, if you can help it avoid her classes.

Found out the reasoning for not receiving grades is because some students weren't assigned TA's......... The midterm is tomorrow and I have barely anything to go off of! Avoid this teacher, don't make the same mistake I did in sticking around..

WHO AT CARLETON DECIDED TO HIRE HER???? HER ENTIRE CLASS IS COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED. NO INFORMATION ON BRIGHTSPACE FOR EXAM. MARKS NOT RETURNED. SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHES SAYING AND CONSTANTLY BACKTRACKS. NOT TO MENTION THE THICKEST ACCENT THAT MAKES YOU QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT SHE IS SPEAKING ENGLISH.

terrible dont recommend

just watch pat morin on youtube. provides not enough resources to even come close to grasping the content, just a bad professor. cant stress that enough. 0 communication aswell.

bad professor!!!

No communication. Provides barely any study material on top of her horrible notes. No info on exam stuff, not even a module on brightspace. Just watch pat morin lectures on youtube and pray you pass this mess of a course

She doesn't use slides like any other professor, just a piece of paper written with blue ink. Her notes are more comparable to an acid trip. Every concept is just a blur, words dissolve, and logic swirls. One second it makes sense, the next is a cosmic riddle. Literally just a surreal mess of blue ink. Don't even think she understands her own notes

this prof doesnt answer questions at all do not take her and i still havent gotten my assignment back the day of the exam and 2 days before the next assignment is due

i am new to canada and find her really hard to focus on during lectures. the exam i have been studying for 2 weeks but i feel i waste 1/4 of the time trying to understand her notes and she also posts practice questions but no solutions. i dont think theres solution for any question in the course so avoid if you can, she just makes everything hard.

Just avoid the headache I'm begging you.

I'll say this, awful teacher but if you are relativley alright in math and just keep up with the assignments and homework, and ask the ta's for help then you'll probably be fine. But yeah very unfortunate teacher tho

If you go to your lectures or rely on slides, pick someone else.

if you want to pass the course instead of pass away look towards someone else

I swear this class is going to make me crashout. Midterm today and no feedback on my previous assignment from a month ago, no answers for the practice midterm, no answers for homework questions. Classes are no help. Her thick ah accent and her stopping for 20 seconds at a time like her internal ai is restarted is impossible to learn from AVOID!!!

right before the midterm, she stops us to announce something to the whole class. as shess announcing something, you can see the entire class turn around asking their peers what she's saying. she is impossible to understand as if discrete math on its own isnt already its own language.

if you can process english, russian, discrete math, and messy notes all at once, ive found the perfect professor for you!!!

Can i understand her? No, are Pat's uploaded lectures saving me? yes, in the midterm did she get on the stage and clarify the wordings of 4/6 questions because she struggles with english? yes, should she stop teaching? yes. Her questions are nonsensical and I find myself questioning what the answer requires rather than attempting the question.

the prof's English accent is very thick. She avoids answering emails, and she does not return grades early. the midterms before her were multiple choice, and she decided to change it to written questions. and all the problems that she went over in class barely were present in the midterm... shocker.

is she the only prof available for 2804 this semester? if so DO NOT take this prof and take the course another semester. svetlana is absolutely not worth the headache

This prof is so unbelievably bad I am begging you to avoid her. In addition to being the worst lecturer in the department, she gives assignments to TAs MORE THAN A MONTH AFTER THEY WERE HANDED IN for grading. You will receive no feedback before critical evaluations. How has Carleton not fired her

unless you are the hunter, do not take.⠀⠀⠀

I ended up dropping this course because this professor is genuinely awful. Her lectures are formatted attrociously and her notes are completely incoherent. She never understands what she's talking about. I don't understand how this professor is qualified to teach this course. On top of all this, she doesn't answer emails ever.

Term is ending in a week and we only got 1 out of 5 quizes and 1 out of 4 assigments back. Can barely learn from the lectures, Just use Pat Morin's lectures She is graceful with assignments and grading in general though.

Didn't understand a word. She punished the whole class for a few people that had cheated and her response to anti cheating made 0 sense. Spent multiple lectures talking about combinatorics with a card deck that she forgot to tell us was a Russian card deck with a different amount of cards, confusing the entire class for multiple lectures.

Lana is rarely prepared when it comes to lectures, pausing for minutes at a time to figure out what she wrote on the slides (0 benefit to attending), and there is a total lack of feedback; it took months for many people to receive feedback just on the first assignment, she posts homework problems without answers, makes mistakes on quizzes. Terrible

Whoever gave the 5 star review below is trolling.

Stay away from this professor！

assignments 3 and 4 grades are not and the midterm grades are not back. Mind you the class ended April 8th, and its April 16 now. How can students know how good or bad they did. Or prepare for worst case scenario when no assignments have been released.

She inspired me to never approach the subject again, if you didn't take stats before you're cooked, good luck.

Please do anything but take this prof. Genuinely terrible teaching, doesn't respond to any emails, and you won't get your midterm/assignment grades back until after the final, despite this being the only course taught by her. If you are forced to take her, watch Pat Morin's videos on the course which can be found on Youtube

No one has their marks back for the midterm, or the last two assignments, and the final is in a week as of writing this review. Little to no communication from the prof. We need to know those marks so we know what to study for the exam. By withholding our marks, she's refusing to give us the feedback WE NEED to study well for this exam.

Her lectures were difficult for me to follow and understand personally, so I felt wasted on my commute. I'd advise learning the content through external sources.

Terrible prof. The other people in their reviews with their grades are most likely just calculating from the minimum marks released so far. Yes, what you're thinking is right - all these ratings are from the Winter Sem, it's April, we're approaching the final exam, and the midterm, and other assignment marks still haven't been released yet.

gatekeeps feedback from quizzes & midterms. u may think, no way? well it's true, u get marks but not what u got wrong. i think it's bc she knows students would probably find questions she made wrongly. only feedback u get is assignments (bc this class's only saving grace are the TAs, who have talked abt how messy it is to deal with this prof too)

Just don't take any class with her. I usually don't take rate my prof reviews seriously but this is the one teacher I ask you to listen to the warnings.

All other reviews are right! No feedback is given. She is also not very nice to students when approached. STAY AWAY unless you are ready to learn everything by yourself!!

Heavy accent (Hard to understand), hard and boring lectures, final is in 2 days and I still don't have almost all of my grades for assignments and midterm.

Worst professor I have ever had by far (quite impressive). All students gave her the benefit of the doubt but clearly something is very wrong here. Midterm results 2-3 days before the EXAM??!! Same with assignment results being given out 2-3 days before the exam. The professor also never replies to emails :) TA's try their best though. AVOID.

By far the worst prof of all time. can't read, can't speak, can't finish a sentence. Still missing assessments submitted 2 months ago. No info on anything, EXTREMELY unorganized. Avoid at all costs.

We are 3 two days out from the final and haven't received back the midterms. This prof is super disorganized and doesn't teach the courses well either. Do not take this class with her.

The lectures are very difficult to understand. She doesn't give us much information about anything and takes forever to return things. None of my assignments had any feedback, and I still haven't gotten my midterm grade, which was written two months ago, and the final is tomorrow.

Very incompetent, have not yet received assignment grades, and the final is tomorrow, almost no material to work with other than the ones provided by Pat Morin. Horrible experience.

Really hard to understand and very unorganized, Releases grade really late i received my midterm grade after 2 months of doing it and 2 days before the final exam and if u don't include a little part in your answer which is already obvious she will mark your whole answer wrong even though your answer is correct since she will assume u "guessed" it.

Many complain about late grades because it's been months, but even more, with finals approaching, our main study materials—(unmarked) HW with no answers, assignments w/ feedback that hasn't even come in yet, hidden quiz answers, and review sheets with flawed solutions—leave us unsure at best if we're studying correctly (bless Pat Morin though)

throughout this course i found myself searching for anything redeemable about this prof. instead, i found recommendations for her other possible career paths—to teach courses at Carleton on how to procrastinate better, and maybe russian too. she did promote Pat Morin and her TAs very well tho, they pretty much held the whole course together💔

you may be one of those people that find 2804 pretty light. a large amount find it hard or at least unintuitive. no matter what group you're in, you're in luck! she makes this subject difficult, or at the very least, unpleasant, for all! late grades, hard to understand, unorganized. take her (if she's not fired) if you want that experience! :)

I'd rather be in a toxic abusive relationship because that way I can leave it and there's no withdrawal deadline. Respect yourself don't take this class you're better than that I won't let you twin

Nice. Got midterm back 12 hours before the exam :DDDD

The final exam is less than 12 hours away and I have no idea how I'm doing in the course because I don't have my midterm grade. Avoid her at all costs she is the worst prof, takes forever to return assignment grades, with no feedback. You would do yourself the favor of not taking a course with her.

Hoping I show up to the final exam tomorrow and its revealed that this was all one massive social experiment and am compensated for enduring this professor.

bro i only have 2/4 assignments back and did not get my midterm from feb back yet and my exams today, lol avoid at all cost. paying to fail !!

Why provide a practice question repository for the final that's easier and 70% irrelevant to the exam? Also, how can you, a worse teacher than Pat Morin or Michael Smid, make the final harder, especially when you're reusing and poorly adapting their lesson plans? This sets us up for failure and undermines our preparation.

“don't smile because it's over, CRY because it happened” ahh professor

Do not get her. Id rather drop out than take this with her again

Exam finished, can confirm we have officially ended the class without receiving more than half our assessments back, including the midterm written in FEBRUARY. So happy its over, waste of money and time. Do your self a favour either take it with someone else or wait to take it with someone else.

The professor gave past exams and a review set labeled as guidance, but the final exam was completely different in format and content. It felt misleading. If the shared materials weren't relevant, why share them at all? Expect little alignment between what you're told to study and what you're tested on.

Let me confirm all the 1-star reviews first: they're true. This is not a joke! Just came out of the final that was poorly prepped for with completely different review formats. Lectures require fluency in Russian but Pat Morin's videos helped. Some people don't even have their midterms back; if you wanna gamble your grade, this course is for you!

Lana isn't organized, I got my midterm mark the day of the final, lecture notes are handwritten and she reads them in class. I think she tries, but as a student you really need all possible means to succeed, and she isn't an asset to help you do well in the course.

The exam felt disconnected from the course. Topics we spent weeks on barely appeared, while underexplained content dominated the final. Guidance was misleading, and the structure didn't reflect what we practiced. It felt like the goal was to test tricks, not understanding.

No quiz or assignment solutions were ever posted. Midterm grades came late or not at all. We had no idea where we stood in the class, even after submitting everything. Final exam is done, and I still don't know my progress. Zero transparency and poor course management.

I'd rather retake the class with someone else than go through this again. No proper guidance, no transparency, and no consistency. Save yourself the stress and avoid if you can.

If the course had a final boss, it would be this prof. 88 rating? Must be out of 1000. You'll laugh, cry, and question your life choices — all before midterm or assignment marks are posted (spoiler: they won't be). Enroll only if you enjoy mystery novels and academic gaslighting.

Save yourself the pain: I'd rather wait a year for a different instructor than speedrun disappointment in this course. Enrolling is like signing up to fail in advance

Weirdest teacher I got so far, Lecture notes are a pain to go through,can't understand what the teacher is saying most of the time.Course organisation overall vary lacking midterm took nearly 2 month to get graded and the choice of changing the exam and midterm format to long answer was very weird considering the quiz are still multiple choice.

Taking this course with this prof is like clicking “I agree” without reading the terms

Nothing . She doesn't explain well, and I won't take a course with her again

prof made by riot games 🥀🥀

although i did fine shes really hard to understand. mid exam she announces something to all her students in the field house and nobody understood, you immediately see everyone looking around asking what the prof just said. she also posted "exam review" like 20 days after the last class ended and it was 4 questions on a single topic. worthless prof

she returned my midterm written in february to me at 3am the day of my final exam 👍

shes not it

she can't teach even if her life depended on it

I had to basically teach myself the course material. I think she tries but my experience is unsatisfactory. my midterm grade was uploaded less than 12 hours before final exam. She seems like a kind person but for this course would not recommend.

Never never never never never never never never never never never never again. Please don't ever take a course with this prof. Actually mind blowing how a professor can be so oblivious to how poor her own teaching is. Id rather eat a cactus than endure this again

You want to contact her or ask questions? only office hours. TA's for help? They don't know/are not allowed to answer. Lectures? Stolen from the last prof but rewritten with chicken feet scratches and a sad excuse of her illiterate explanations. I got my midterm and assignments back 10 hours before the exam. Save yourself, we took the fall for you

Thick accent- thats it, she is uncomprehendable

Thickest accent possible from a human, and uses examples that don't apply to non-russian audiences. I didn't get my midterm mark until the exam, and my assignment marks took months. This course has been beyond ridiculous! Waste of my time, money, and life. Never take this prof! The TAs are awesome though.

She doesnt attend her own office hours. Doesnt respond to emails. Doesnt grade assignments or provide feedback, doesnt know English properly, DIDNT KNOW THAT A DECK OF CARDS CANT HAVE 2 JACK OF HEARTS(IT WAS A QUESTION ON THE FINAL SHE MADE WTF). we cant contest grades because she shares them with us after semester ends so i guess shes smart

WORST PROFESSOR EVER!!!! NEVER TAKE HER IF YOU WANNA PASSS!!. RUNAWAY!!!!!

This teacher simply doesn't teach well. With very hard to understand lectures and notes, it's hard to understand the material from her way of teaching. Furthermore, the feedback comes off way too late, no precise feedback on the midterm, after 2 months, which is very unhelpful and insulting after a lot of work. Learn on your own, period.

She doesn't answer emails even from TAs. Doesn't attend her own office hours. Her class is disorganized and some assignments were never assigned for TAs to mark after the course concluded. It's been over 20 days since we wrote our final exam and we are missing marks from several assignments and exams.

Her course lecture includes her using Russian card games in order to explain math without explaining how the game works first. She also doesn't attend her own office hours and never gave notices to students. Doesn't answer emails either and TAs are ordered to not help students on assignments. Worthless professor. She needs to be imprisoned.

Now that I finally have my grade back I feel comfortable leaving this review. Svetlana is the worst instructor I have encountered in 6 years of study, I completed a whole degree at this school previously and honestly didn't think instructors could be this worthless. She provides literally zero value, she will only confuse and demoralize you. Avoid.

Avoid from now on. What a train wreck of a course it was... I received my final grade finally, only to discover that I don't have any feedback on it. Her teaching is severely disorganized and very poorly explained. I retook this course twice, and I ended up having a grade that was almost no better than the last one. AVOID. Won't say it again.

Heavy accent

Never ever taking this prof again. All the problems written below are my complaints plus the fact that she took 1 MONTH for giving our final grade back is unacceptable.

The professor has a heavy accent and is very unorganized. Notes are written and very hard to follow. Grading takes forever, we got midterms back 2 days before the final. She does not reply to her emails. Exams are fair if you study concepts well, but don't rely on her notes. Use other resources. If you can avoid taking her, you probably should.

Final grades got curved a bit, which was needed as this prof was complete crap. Horrible accent, can give grading rubric to ta's so they can actually mark stuff, midterm was given after 2 months like a couple days before the final. The course content was manageable but the way the midterm and final was put together, was a hit or miss (MISS)

Had to leave a second 1 star review, 1 wasn't enough, my prev comment about grades being curved was wrong. I calculated it and apparently it wasn't curved. I still got an A+ though cause I aced the assign and quiz but didn't do too well on the final and midterm as the questions she gives aren't taught in class and you just rely on your abilities.

I don't wear my seatbelt when I drive to class hoping that I don't have to attend her lectures.

If you feel safe out there remember she's out there

WARNING!!! Just saw the carleton public schedule and apparently she will teach it COMP2804 again for W2026.... Take the course at fall 2025 instead of winter

Highly suggest to avoid her if possible.

I seriously dreaded waking up to my alarm every morning knowing I had to go to her class. Please dont take this class im warning you.. she literally teaches like shes being forced against her will. THE REVIEWS ARE TRUE. (Seriously. Put this woman behind a jail cell with maximum security.)

Worst teacher I've ever had in my life, lectures made 0 sense at all!

To those of you who are taking COMP2804 for 2nd year, do it in the fall 2025 term. She is teaching it again in Winter 2026, and I would avoid taking it at that time. Why? Read the reviews below and you will see for yourself. Terrible class!

if u dont wanna off urself, run. she takes out her personal depression on all the students cause she hates her life and is miserable. she said with her own words she wants to see us all do bad on final.

She obviously knows what she's talking about but no one in this class could begin to comprehend her material and lectures through her broken english and awful handwritten notes (in a light blue colour on lined paper taken through a phone camera). Don't expect any grades back (midterm and assignments) until the day before or days after the final.

Extremely disappointing experience. The course material is already challenging, and the professor makes it even harder by providing unclear explanations and not offering any help to students during office hours. Additionally, students do not receive any feedback until the end of the semester, I received my midterm grade hours before my final exam.