2.1
Quality3.0
Difficulty20%
Would Retake171
Reviews20%
Would Retake
171
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
25
4
11
3
19
2
29
1
87
What Students Say
“Probably the worst professor at University of Rochester”
CSC171 - 1.0 rating“You would never want to have any classes with this guy”
CSC440 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
6%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
A+
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-0.61 avg changeRatings by Course
CSC171AND172
5.0
(1)CSC171CSC214
5.0
(1)131
4.3
(3)CSC171172
4.0
(1)CSC162
3.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
CSC 172
5.0
CSC440
5.0
CSC160CSC172
4.0
CSC171CSC214
4.0
CSC242
4.0
Reviews (171)
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Bad Teacher, doesn't care about students
Sink or swim type evaluation to ensure that the number of CS majors remains small. Not as much of an ass when you get to know him - he's actually both nice and somewhat helpful in a non-class setting.
Most absent-minded professor ever.
Decent teacher, though nothing special. Nice guy though.
Totally unhelpful. Teach yourself, and if you don't already know it, sucks to be you.
Good Person, bad teacher. Hope that you get an english speaking TA, cuz the class is no help.
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Polarizing figure, isn't he? All I know is he's defensively responsible and uses his size well, unlike that cherry-picker John Kerry.
Nice guy, but not a great professor.
I don't understand why he gets such a bad rap. I think beacuse he teaches 1st year courses, and freshmen complain alot.
Class was uneccessary, the should of just had labs.
Thought he knew what he was talking about... will just haveta wait and see... i think hes pretty cool though
I took an independent study with the guy. FANTASTIC! I didn't like writing the papers (and they were half-assed) and I think he didn't like reading them. Plus, I never submitted the final paper because I saw an "A" on my grade report before the thing was due.
He sucks
Yeah, he's a decent guy, I'll give him that. But I don't think he's very clear about things.
He seemed like a nice guy, but he was a terrible professor. Really unhelpful, unavailble when he said he would be, would move up the dates on assignments without much notice, wouldn't respond to emails, etc etc. Also, if you dont know much about csc going in, be prepared to figure everything out from the book, the TAs, and from your friends.
There are two things about Ted that people need to know, he is a great guy, hilarious during lecture, who teaches a mandatory, but acceptably easy class for CSC majors, his flaw is that he is very absentminded. He is usually acceptably clear during lecture but his tests are much harder then his lectures/labs. GREAT guy in person, alright prof.
Easy if you know CSC well. If you don't, well you better learn to use the internet A LOT.
Despite what other ppl say, I think he's pretty clear and really very helpful whenever you need him to be. His teaching teaching style isn't too boring, but I can see how it would be significantly more difficult if you didn't already know some programming. However, I found that he taught the things I didn't know already pretty well.
He's an amazing teacher. I was really very worried about starting out in CSC171 when I hadn't programmed for a couple of years (and even then not at a very intense level), but he's made it one of my best/favorite classes. He's an extremely interesting and helpful teacher (even if he can't spell and disses English majors a lot).
Inspirational !
None.
I learn nothing really.
His lectures are great. His grading is horrible, instructions on projects are bad, and he's not very helpful out of class. E.g, He will chop off 20 points off a project for a print line error, and not be very helpful if you've made some mistake on an assignment or midterm. He randomly changes how much assignments are worth in the final grade too.
He is cool. Explains stuff well too.
Not very focused in lecture, assignments are unclear, and test/quiz material never seems to be taught in class. Honestly if I hadn't taken AP CS in high school, I probably would've failed this class. If you're new to CS, good luck...
Very good teacher; entertaining...very helpful outside of class. Always willing to answer a question, related or unrelated to the topic at hand.
Good class, entertaining and helpful lectures, though Pawlicki is a bit scatter-brained. However, the lab TAs are probably the most incompetent people I've ever meet. They are always late and reluctant to offer any help.
He says that people with no prior programming experience will be caught up with those with experience by the end of the semester....Nonsense..
Jumps around, does not teach fundamentals before he introduces the intricate complexities and obscure uses. Teaches an idea and expects you to apply it immediately when he teaches the reasoning behind it two or three weeks later in the course. Students with prior experience have a leg up in the course and it's never a level playing field, ever.
class not even worth attending. jumps from topic to topic.
If you don't have programming experience, you'll have a hard time THROUGHOUT the course. Pawlicki's a nice guy if you get to know him, but he's not a good teacher: he doesn't make a lot of sense very often(even in writing), he teaches fundamentals too late in the course (if he covers them at all), and very often fails to respond to emails.
It's a fun past-time to poke fun at him, but in reality he's a great professor. Just pay attention in class. I know it can be hard sometimes, but his examples and slides are very clear.
I really enjoyed 172, it inspired me to major in CS.
He may not be the best professor, but he's a good laugh. He can rush a little bit sometimes and can get mixed up. I'm not sure how he grades our assignments and tends to knock off a lot of marks for minor mistakes. But you can't help but love his enthusiasm.
Straight up horrible teacher. Will assign projects immediately teaching a fundamental concept. Without prior programming experience you probably wont receive an A in this course. Personally have an A-/A and I have 2 Java Courses in a New England Prep School.... It is amazing that the University of Rochester has this guy as a tenure professor.
A kind of scatterbrained, but nice guy. The course is easy if you read through and do the labs; most of the meat of the teaching seems to be there instead of in-class, where you can behold his dubious typing skills. Note that practically nobody will succeed any tests he gives in class.
He really knows his stuff, but his lectures aren't always as useful as they could be. Make sure to 1. Ask questions 2. read the book (ESPECIALLY the first week, when he gives you the one and only pop quiz) 3. switch recitations until you get great TAs 4. Start assignments ahead of time so you can ask about them 5. Work in groups
If you have previous programming experience then you'll do just fine without much effort (and should probably take 172). I would probably have been incredibly confused (as a lot of my friends were) if I were just starting out with CS in his class.
Avoid like the plague. This guy is supposed to be the undergraduate director, but doesn't know what a "pedagogical philosophy" is, has a petty attitude towards dotting is and crossing ts, and rarely takes responsibility for highly ambiguous lab directions or mismatches between lecture, lab, exam, and syllabus. Difficult to reach outside of lecture.
Although he's a weird guy, he's funny and teaches the material well. He explains things better during office hours and explains complicated concepts in advanced theory in a really nice way if you ask him about that. He makes mistakes on purpose so that attentive students can correct him. The class is also pretty interactive.
Is not clear at all. Does not teach you what the labs are on. I had no CSC experience before this class and i basically had to teach it to myself. Don't believe him when he says it will be a even playing field for everyone. He also takes off a ton of points for even the slightest of error.
Not helpful or on topic most of the time.
He is the epitome of an absentminded professor. People don't get that his "pedagogical philosophy" is not only teaching CS but also teaching self-sufficiency. I came with 0 CS experience, worked & struggled through his classes & learned so much from doing it myself. Every single thing is graded by TAs so don't blame him for their decisions.
He is awful. He fails to realize how what he says, makes no sense and constantly goes off on computer science related tangents. Outside of class he is extremely difficult to reach and is quite helpless when you do reach him. I learn a lot from lab and the TAs, but nothing in lecture. He is awful, avoid if possible.
I learned a lot in this class. The main strength of this course is it's structure. The weekly workshops and labs are helpful. The projects were all doable and not terribly hard. He's fairly entertaining in class. A programming course has to have good structure, a good lecturer isn't really helpful when you're home doing assignments.
In-class quizzes and mandatory workshops are BS, but he's great apart from that. Fun lecturer and not nearly as repetitive as his colleagues. Plus he probably gives more extra credit than any other professor in the university!
Ted Pawlikci gets a lot of hate because he expects his students to put in the work required not just to get a good grade, but to actually UNDERSTAND the material on a fundamental level. If you are interested in CS and willing to put forth effort to not just complete assignments but to do them as best you can, you will have a great time with Ted.
Odd but kinda funny prof. Lectures/his speech were choppy, though he teaches concepts ok enough. I learned a ton from the labs, but they took FOREVER because you have to learn examples on own. No homework otherwise. Fairly easy if you put in enough effort on your own. Many who skip class + don't do practice problems bomb the quizzes and complain.
If you have no previous coding experience with Java you are going to have a bad time. Pawlicki is a quirky teacher and classes are lecture halls instead of computer labs. Most of your learning will come from yourself and the other will be from your workshops and labs. If you have the coding experience you'll be fine, if not good luck you'll need it
Terrible class. No support on assignments. Unclear lectures. Never responds to emails on important topics.
Rude, disrespectful, and unhelpful. Dismisses student's concerns and provides no support. Also actively alienates girls in his classes all the time.
Very poor professor, can't explain anything at all, poorly designed quizes. Also, can somebody explain to me how a 63% class average for midterm projections is considered acceptable? I'm personally getting a B+ in his class and im working on it 4 hours a day, but im appalled to see how many kids are doing that poorly. A mark of a poor professor.
As quirky and endearing Pawlicki can be, he is not a good professor. He teaches concepts well at times, but there's an overall lack of direction given to students. Many times, his lab TA's haven't even read the labs and cannot help at all in lab. I don't even go to lab anymore and I just go to tutoring 247. The class isn't that bad though.
Honestly the worst experience I had in my history of education.
His course guidelines are clear and well organized. AKA you know what you need to do. His exams were difficult ( I averaged a D) but aren't worth much (10%) each. I still managed to get a solid A (yes I mean A, not an A-) because of the sheer amount of extra credit. I feel like he puts a lot of effort and has ideas, but his execution is horrible.
As nice a guy he is, he's very unhelpful. The assignments were unclear in what they wanted and were riddled with typos.
Took this course over the summer, there was a lot of work but it was a lot of fun.
Not nice to students. Bad attitude. Classes are not helpful.
He's enthusiastic about the subject but his lectures aren't the most helpful (you'll do much better in labs). He may be reluctant to help if you email him but go to him directly and he'll be more than willing to help!
Pawliki expects you to understand the concepts basically instantly and then be able to apply those concepts. His examples tend to be convoluted. If you are not an intuitive programmer, you will struggle a little bit. Do NOT ever leave the middle of his class (unless it is directly after a quiz). He gives "random" pop quizzes after people leave a lo
Pawlicki is the worst professor I've ever had the misfortune to "learn" from. His examples and explanations were always ridiculously unclear, he tends to spend half the time lecturing on academic honesty, and he doesn't respect his students at all unless they worship him. If you take this class, be prepared to self-teach all of it like I had to do.
The lectures do not help, and this pretty much sums up my experience with Ted.
horrible lecturer, mistakes in all his powerpoints
Very poor Professor, very bad lecturer. Powerpoints, tests and workshops would have so many typos it was hard to read Pay attention in workshop if you want a good grade because labs and lecture are useless
Basically a self taught course. However he is very generous with extra credit and the curves. As long as you're willing to work for it, you will end up doing well in the class.
One of the worst professors I have had in my life. He did not teach a single thing. It was a self-taught course. Learn everything you can from the workshops.
Engaging lecturer, but otherwise the single worst professor I had in undergrad - unresponsive to emails, often hard to find during his scheduled office hours, typos and ambiguous assignment instructions, harsh grading, callously mean to students (in person or via email), and had little apparent concern for the synchronization of lab to lecture.
Terrible professor, probably the worst CS professor. His lectures and code are terrible. He is unhelpful during his office hours and told me to study for the wrong thing when I had asked. I am so glad I am done with this class. I was able to get an A+ by: going to lecture (helped with meeting fellow students), workshop, labs, CSUG and CETL tutors.
worst professor ever. Non-responding to emails, weird exam content, ambiguous instruction on lab, which took me 30 minutes more on each lab on average. But this is a mandatory class, what can you do about it???
Highly engaging lecturer. Tied together disparate concepts. Very passionate about computer science.
Literally makes no sense. He goes on mental tangents all the time and expects people to be able to understand him. Reminds me of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
Terrible guy terrible professor
Truly awful professor. The worst professor I have ever had. Waste's students time during lecture rambling about random things which are not going to help us learn computer science or do well on tests.
Horrible teacher- lectures are complete nonsense and the homework is frequent and difficult. This is supposed to be an intro class and it doesn't describe anything in detail. I had no prior coding experience and the class is geared towards students who have lots. Do not take this class with Pawlicki if possible
Too bad CSC171 is required for CS majors and only Pawlicki teaches intro. If you have no java experience, the course will be a nightmare! Lectures are absolutely useless (I stopped going to them) and the labs are very confusing and stressful. Then the midterms are very difficult... Avoid this professor or learn java on your own. Beware
Please learn Java before you register for the course. Your TAs and workshop leaders are your saviors for this course. If you have no prior coding experience, you can avoid the lectures, but I would definitely attend the labs and workshops for practice.
I couldn't understand what he was saying. His lectures were not in logic. If you want to take this course, be ready to learn by yourself.
Don't get swayed by his political views. He is passionate about CS and manages to convey what he wants. He can be a bit boring at times but the labs and workshops are super helpful if this is your first time coding. Oh, and attempt extra credit.
Well he is a fun inspiring mentor.
I am not sure how Pawlicki has managed to keep a job for so long. It's currently week six and he has not even made a syllabus yet. And No Ted, sharing your course "calendar" spreadsheet with wrong dates is not a syllabus. It's evident that he does not read the textbook-provided slides before presenting, which would be okay IF he knew the material.
The worst class I ever had. This was supposed to be a introductory class. He teaches as if he's reviewing everything we already learned. Horrible class AVOID if you can
If you have no prior exp with Java, don't take this class. This man will not teach you anything and if you're very very lucky you will get a good lab and workshop TA who will guide you. He doesn't go over basics even though it's an introductory course and you're not supposed to have prior programming experience.
He cannot teach. Period. Don't waste your time in his lectures, go to CSUG, go to CETL, get a upperclassman willing to help and use the internet to learn. Read the books, and you should be able to learn by yourself
Don't take his class. If you want to major CS, and come to UR for fall semester, just explore the first semester and hopefully some other professor will take CS171 next semester. He cannot teach and just assumes you have all the knowledge you need for Java EVEN THOUGH ITS AN INTRO CLASS. He is bad for your self esteem and your future in CS. AVOID
His lecture is extremely useless. You can come to his class and laugh and do other things, but you will not be able to see the whole code and you won't learn much. Go to TAs, they are better.
This course is really quick for an intro course, especially for anyone without any prior knowledge in Java programming beforehand. TAs & Google are your saviors. Read recommended books; they are more useful than Ted will ever be. Ted is at least fairly lenient with extra credits for projects, so work hard on those. It is rough, but not impossible.
Stopped going to class midway through the semester. Got an A. Self study, learn from the TAs and online, and you'll be fine.
He is the worst professor at this university and sadly he is the only one who teaches CSC 171 for both semesters. I can honestly say that its is not a "Introduction" class its more like review for people who already know java. During lecture all he talks about is his wife then briefly cover the material. The two assignments each week are difficult.
Lectures are relatively useless. Easy class to do well in. Just do the assignment and self-study and you'll be fine
Probably the worst professor at University of Rochester. I could learn more java programming through an online python course. Talks more about his wife than java. If this is your first time coding, don't let this class deter you from further programming.
Worst teacher ever! You would never want to have any classes with this guy! Tough final, useless lecture, and endless homework. He doesnt know the material, and he is not able to answer questions. By the way, you never know rubrics for guest lecture report.
Prof. Pawlicki's lectures were usually a loose run-through of how to use parts of Blender without any real structure. Most of the time I think he was just playing around with the program and sending us off. It was enough for the lax nature of this course, but with a more intense class like CSC 171 I'd stay far away.
Starting this semester (2019 fall), this course requires textbook online. It takes 60$ to use, and it counts for 10% of the grades. Also, the professor barely cover any useful material in a logical way. This means CSC 171 is a self-teaching course which cost you a lot of money besides tuition, and the professor is useless.
Very accessible outside of class, and really gives you all the tools you need to succeed, even if he doesn't always have the best lecture slides. So few students regularly attend his class (since attendance isn't mandatory) that I find it hard for so many students to give him a bad rap without taking advantage of what he offers.
Homework and Projects will suck up every single second. A lot of questions are not related to the lecture or the book. You will need to find resources online often. Why?
teach well, not possible, not for this life. good lectures not capable, just hua water to keep life. 171 boring, 172 online is like home! Students are all self-study genius and can do 100 labs a week, wow!! very like 172 online.
yeah, we all know about the notorious FB post he made, and I was wary of being in his class too. But I've found he's probably one of the kindest teachers I've had. I'm in CSC131 so it may be a different experience than 171/2, but he seems to genuinely care about his students and explains the material well, too.
He turned what used to be a 2 Midterm class into a 5 Midterm + 1 Final class. I would not say he himself has bad intentions, but also adding an additional set of homework each week (so from 1 set per week to 2), I don't necessary have the time to think well of him. My conclusion? This has become a class made for students to STRUGGLE!
I can't help to feel like I am paying to self-study here. I mean, I used to like doing homework and practice questions. Not anymore. The homework, along with EVERY OTHER CONTENT, is so not clear. I don't even know what he means in some homework questions. Cost me a lot actually.
You will regret taking his class.
CSC172 is an extremely useful class full of fascinating algorithms and clever data structures. But Ted Pawlicki nearly ruined it for me. Two labs a week forced me to rush through material instead of fully learning it. In lectures, he explains the material in a way that only makes sense if you already know it. He is also rude to students.
Mental breakdown simulator. Except it's real.
Students may not like his political views. But I personally found him entertaining. Fun guy.
He really make algorithm very unclear. It is hard for you to study from his lectures. Please go to other materials, learn from greeks for greeks and other platforms. The lecture slides can then guide you the list of thing you need to know. But do not try to just rely on slides, you can not understand without very clear explanation.
One of the least specific and detailed professors in computer science I have had. I respect professor Pawlicki's charismatic personality and hilarious charm, but he is not a good educator who seems to care about holistic learning, but just sits and watches students. If you want to take data structures, I highly urge you to take it in the fall.
I honestly feel bad for the CS kids at UR. They're all talented, bright, eager to learn, and have extremely creative minds. It's sad that they're not being supplemented with a quality professor for a class as important as data structures & alg.
Absolute dogwater! Disgrace to the CS community, anywhere.
This professor is trying too hard to make it harder for students to understand the material. Instructions in his assigments are not understandable and tremendously incomprehensible
Do not take this professor. Unfortunately it's impossible to major in CS without him as he is the ONLY professor for CS172. Even one of his TAs left him. He doesn't explain anything. The only way to survive his course is to teach yourself from the textbook. His political views are quite scary too, but that's for a different site.
CS172 equips its students with some of the most important knowledge of their cs career. This should be a fun and enriching class, though Pawlicki turned it into a nightmare. The two textbooks, assignments, exams, and lectures are completely unattached from each other. Just self-study... DONT WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME GOING TO LECTURES.
I'm not mad, just disappointed.
Same as many poor guys here, I say that his lectures are worthless and disappointing. My suggestion is to complete self-learning before the semester begins. 172 with TP is an inevitable misery to many ones. When you feel down, cope with it, and don't let it ruin your expectations for future CS courses. CS should be hard, but this is undeserved.
Honestly, you could learn nearly nothing from his lectures. All of the quizzes, labs, and projects are directly taken from previous years without change, even if there are tons of mistakes in these materials, including misleading instructions and wrong questions. Quizzes, lectures, labs and ZyBook are all grades but totally irrelevant to each other
High quality lecture slides. Lab assignments are easy but projects are pretty hard. I do not recommend this class to person who has not any CS background knowledge.
I really loved the course material but the lecture was not useful at all. O totally depended on YouTube and the textbook. The professor is a bad explainer he fails to explain any complicated topic. He is a a slow coder so the lecture is always wasted while he is trying to show us example code.
Boring lectures, Pawlicki always starts a new chapter each time even if he did not finish the previous one before, and just reads the slides. His weekly online quizzes are worthless as few questions really focus on the key concepts and you can always find the answer with Ctrl+F on the textbook. Try to avoid him! If cannot, then just teach yourself.
Bad experience of my CS journey.
There're ten sympathetic inevitable tragedies i.e Pompeii, Hamlet. And then there is TP's CSC 172. He is the Mount Everest of computer science that wields all the power for all explorers to CS and only if you had help or luck, you may not pull it off. And just like Shakespeare, he makes sure the pain is prolonged and sinking in your puny sad soul.
Responsive, and always available. People speak to the difficulty of assignments, but not about his amazing office hours. Always dedicated to working with you until you fully understand the assignments. Lots of example code that helps directly with the projects and is available for personal use.
toooooooo much tedious work ughh, 131 is def an evil class ...................
Prof. T is kind and helpful and accessible outside the class. He is also willing to extend deadlines for students. However, his lecture is a little bit dull for me. Be ready for a lot of reading on Zybook if you want to take CSC172, it is really important. I learn almost everything from Zybook.
His lectures and readings are not related to quiz.
Horrendous lecturer. Crappy tests. Labs and projects have very poor directions and he is not very accessible outside of class either. TAs will be your best friend in any of his classes. But overall not a harsh experience as the grade scaling makes it very easy to get an A.
Did not enjoy the lectures, were all over the place, and learned everything through others or online. If you do the work though, you'll get an A. He did post lecture recordings online, even when classes were in person, so that was nice.
Contacting this professor is easy, getting help is not. Zoom chat was an unmoderated distraction, his long lectures made no sense & he had a sour, dull demeanor. His CV is nowhere to be found. Main textbook is a work of art, wish the author taught it. Online made it 10 times harder. Horrible way to begin CS. Use YouTube. Avoid at all costs.
I learned everything from YouTube & Zybook. Don't go to the lectures. There is a big extra credit assignment, which is nice.
His tests are the worst. He recycles questions EVERY single test, but it's not material found in lectures or online really. ZyBook will be your best friend. Should have worked with a partner to get a better grade. The extra credit assignment is what saved me-- bumped it up a full letter grade, so def do it.
Completely useless. If you want to do well in this class, utilize the TAs and put in the effort for the projects and labs. No one goes to lectures once they realize that he just repeats the textbook, but explains it in a worse and more unclear way.
TRASH. HE IS JUST TRASH.
Pawlicki and Zhupa's lectures are as difficult to read as their names.
love this guy
He will reply to your email but will never solve your problem. Seems to be responsive but not caring at all
Lenient with deadline extensions. Online quiz, no midterm & finals. Quizzes are reused from last year, sometimes with questions not covered in class. No one goes to lectures. It's a dull but easy A class as long as you do the work.
Somehow easy homework, many many opportunities for you to get extra credit and fixed A lines, so it s pretty easy to get an A for CSC172 he teaches. In fact, many of my friends even get 100+ in his class so A+ is quite common (tho he only uses A in workday). However, he's awful in teaching, so get ready to learn everything by yourself via youtube.
Pawlicki took whatever interest I had in game dev, and tried his hardest to throw it out of the window. Lectures are boring and useless, with the occasional sexist remark as well. I had to learn EVERYTHING from YouTube which was a thousand times more engaging. The only plus is that quizzes and assignments are super easy, so his class is an easy A.
Bad lectures. Also Bald
Lectures were dull but the projects were pretty cool. Everything reused from past years. Easy A if you are willing to do the work and time manage well.
Lectures suck but attendance isn't mandatory. Assignment directions are confusing but it's almost impossible to fail the class. However, the online textbook is $90.
I really don't get the hate for Pawlicki. His lectures were decent and covered the material promised (along with some additional topics towards the end of the semester). Projects were interesting. He was always accessible during office hours and willing to answer any lab-, project-, or quiz-related questions. Also, a lot of extra credit.
He was actually an okay professor. Was not good at lecturing but it didn't matter because he gave us all the resources to do well (Zybooks textbook) and he did care about our success. Class was not too hard and gave lots of extra credit.
His lectures are not as engaging as top professors, but they aren't mandatory so you can choose to learn from other places. If you aren't busy, go for the extra credits in lectures. Really easy grades, online exams, all multiple choices. For those who are willing to learn yourself, this is the perfect course to earn an A+.
Trash
Always available outside of the class and is willing to help. His lecture is not that good, but there are extra credits and lenient gradings.
No body come to the lecture
By the end of the semester, lecture attendance was about 20% and he was giving extra credit to people who showed up. Lectures are pointless since the online quizzes every other week are about things that aren't covered at all. If you ever need help with the projects, just go to the lab and ask the TA's, they are very helpful.
Excellent. True professor.
Excellent
Takes 3+ weeks to grade coding assignments for a class of 20 students or less (summer asynchronous). Pretty pathetic considering there are professors who have to manage classes 10x that size
I haven't even finished this class and he is by far my least favorite professor at the university. His profiles shows a trump 2020 shirt that he's wearing which tells you a lot. His teaching style in unclear, his projects are vaguely worded and i have the heebie-jeebies every time i walk into that lecture. TAKE THIS CLASS WITH A DIFFERENT PROF.
Very weird guy, seems disorganized and often has unclear instructions for assignments and weird/pointless assignments.
While a mediocre CS Professor at any other university, he is one of the few alright CS professors here at UofR. His classes are brain numbingly easy, but there is usually A LOT of busy work within these classes, and almost no real application of skills into projects besides a couple classes here and there.
Decent professor, lectures could be dry but class was easy overall. Lots of extra credit to boost grades. Unstuck Study AI was a big help for exam prep.
True Professor!!! Lectures are told to be bad but they are actually helpful! The test weren't hard at all!! Projects are also easy!!! True Professor!!!!!
Fake Professor
DSA is supposed to be hard but to be honest, I actually learned stuff because of him. Not because he taught well, but because I had to teach myself. If you just need the credit, take this class, go to workshop and watch Abdul Bari and you are good to go lol.
I believe Prof. Ted Pawlicki is an excellent professor. The negative comments he is receiving likely stem from his willingness to express his views openly. He is highly experienced and has a strong command of his subject matter.
Prof. Pawlicki is a disorganized lecturer, often switching topics without clearly explaining any one thing. He assigns tests such that you are required to do them on weekends. He is curt at best and snappy at worst if you go to talk to him outside of class. Though lab assignments are helpful, the instructions are often poorly written and confusing.
Poorly run class. Few attend lectures which are hardly useful to either test or understanding. Slides taken for granted from UCB CS188, HW from former lecturers w/t changing their names. Tested subjectively on part of irrelevant AND untaught materials on books. Vague instruction on exam preps. TAs are the good. Get ready for self-study.
It is beyond me that UofR still lets this man teach this class. Horrible lecturer, never lectured on anything that was helpful for our projects. The projects would have extremely confusing instructions and often would be straight up wrong. The only good thing about this class was how easy it was graded.
I would say the course was difficult but not that bad. Lectures are not top-notch but taught with passion. Be prepared for really heavy readings before exams and even if you do so, don't expect to receive a decent exam grade. Fortunately the curve was pretty good.
The exams in this class are very bad. They ask you a bunch of random obscure questions about the textbook like its trivia night.
I fw him heavy
His lecture is a disaster and a total waste of time. PPT makes no sense. If you wanna really learn something, you can just google CS 188 Berkley and watch their recorded lecture. Not recommend going to his lecture.
Exams were difficult!!! 5 homeworks in the class aka cs projects. Professor Pawlicki is not the best at lecturing but at this point in my cs journey it doesnt make a huge difference in my learning. He uses his exam questions out of the textbook so there will be some reading. Overall i had a good experience.
His lecture is confusing and unorganized, hw interaction not clear, would not take with him again
Pretty chill guy! Gave extra credit on the last day of class just for showing up. His exams are on the tougher side fyi. 5 homeworks/projects, 2 midterms, 1 final. Homeworks weren't that hard, exams are tricky. The material is difficult to begin with so all in all i had a good experience.
Most boring lectures of all time, expect to have to force yourself to go to them. Instructions on labs can be confusing. Expect to learn most of the material independently. If there's another professor you could choose instead of Pawlicki, I recommend choosing them instead.
Honestly, people don't appreciate the effort that Ted put into organizing this course. The materials are actually very clear, the textbook is easy to follow, and the labs have straightforward instructions. The structure is THERE, you just have to keep up.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
6%
Textbook Required
36%
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