2.1
Quality4.6
Difficulty18%
Would Retake133
Reviews18%
Would Retake
133
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
22
4
17
3
6
2
6
1
82
What Students Say
“Don't be misled by the other ratings”
CMPT307 - 2.0 rating“I don't understand any other reviews below”
CMPT407 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
10%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.27 avg changeRatings by Course
CMPT710
5.0
(1)CMPT405
4.7
(3)CMPT705
3.0
(3)CMPT308
2.8
(18)CMPT407
2.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
CMPT705
5.0
CMPT405
5.0
CMPT307
4.6
CMPT308
4.5
CMPT407
4.0
Reviews (133)
Don't be scared by how hard he makes his lectures -- until the final, that is. Midterm is easy. Assignements are tough but fair. Killer final.
Fair assignments + Midterm. Final..i didnèt pass.
Great person, great scientist.
I never was very good at math. However, his teaching is very good. You understand the core concepts quite well. Also, his assignments/exams and their marking are very fair, unlike many other math courses I've taken. As long as you put effort into the class, you will do OK. Everyone I've talked to likes him, and I'm not surprised.
I was scared of this course and the lectures I went to scared me even more, as I barely ever understood everything. His assignments were also fairly challenging, but you really learn a lot from the assignments. He is a really smart prof and both midterm and final were easy in my opinion. I got an A- in this class and the average was 65% (rel. high)
An extremely hard subject taught clearly. Cares a lot for students. Answers questions thoroughly. Gives challenging homework but fair tests.
One of the best profs in SFU CS dep. He REALLY knows what he is teaching. He is so knowledgeable in algs and complexity. He teaches clearly. So attending classes is a must. Assignments are killers and so difficult but that's the way you learn the course content. Midterms and finals are SO FARE and based on assignments.
Worst prof ever. He uses the chalkboard and his notes are impossible to understand. Seriously, who uses a chalkboard in this day and age for teaching. All of my other professors have either used the overhead projector or powerpoint slides. Assignments are painfully difficult. Midterms are okay if you are able to do the homework and memorize 100%.
Half the material you will have learnt from CMPT225 or other previous CS courses. The assignments are quite challenging,so you might not even be able to start,while the midterms and final are much more easier.You will have no problem if you do your assignments and understand all the assignment solutions. P.S He is also an easy marker.
Great professor, really interested in the subject. He goes over a lot of stuff from MACM and CMPT 225, but there is a lot of stuff to learn as well. My only complaint is that I wish we went into hashing and red black trees. His TAs were very lenient on the marking, worried I wouldn't do so well in the course but pulled out with a B!
I can certainly say that he is (one of) the most dedicated professor teacher(s) at SFU, even in whole Canada/world. He is amazingly organized and well-prepared for his classes; and also his profound knowledge rocks his classes.
Covered a considerable amount of the Cormen book (for a first Algorithms course). Was very enthusiastic about the material and gave a deeper insight into complexity theory than what is normal for first Algo course. Assignments were challenging but interesting and were offset by more reasonable exams.
I didn't get a good grade in this course because I think the exams are hard, especially the last two quizes and the final exam. But the prof is a nice guy who can explain the concept and material well. His attitude is very nice and you can ask anything if you have questions.
Extremely tough subject to teach as a lot of the concepts are very tough. Almost all algorithms and little about data structures. He tries very hard to make sure you understand and encourages us to ask for help. I find the grading scheme a little tough 4 15% quizzes and a 40% final. Should be some assignments to distribute the grade more.
Good professor, of course. Final is not hard with bonus points. Reviewing quiz and materials will help to figure out questions. Don't expect to get a good grade without hard work.
Very good professor! He was very clear and his pacing was good. Of all the profs I had this semester, he is the only one who marked final exams quickly and posted the marks early enough for us to ask questions. His marking was also very fair. If the TAs ever marked anything wrong, he would fix your grade. This makes all the difference in the world!
He tries to cover everything in the book, but you have to do all the real work. He does his job and does not care if everybody fails or everybody passes with A(Not Likely at all!). Nice guy.
He is a respectful prof and nice person, but his assignments, and midterms are brutal hard, he knows the subject of the course and always give you most complicated questions even in easy topics, so don't get fool by his easy lectures you will see the midterms and finals which even don't make sense. Good Luck!
As computer science student says this course solely can be the hardest course in CS major, this course with this professor is a big mistake. Avoid him.
Valentine is one of the best Prof in SFU. He knows his staff and knows how to teach. The assignment is well related to quiz, and he will give the solution before the quiz. He makes this course much easier.
Worst class experience of my life. Unless you consider yourself a genius level student, or don't care about your GPA at all, avoid his class at all cost!
Great prof, very nice, open to feedback and suggestions. Interesting and interactive lectures. Exams aren't a slam dunk, but are mostly applying the same techniques from lectures and assignments to different flavored problems. Grades curved reasonably. Notes posted online, you're missing out on the useful examples and diagrams if you skip though.
Good prof and hard course. Notes posted online doesn't help much. Careful when you want to get this course.
Incredibly knowledgeable and articulate. His lectures were organized and had a good flow, leaving no gaps in understanding. They were supportive for approaching new problems in the assignments. And the assignments were designed to solidify the lecture material. An excellent teacher.
Some of my classmates complained the assignments and midterms are brutal hard. I found them okay given that you do need to put a lot of thoughts and effort into it. Need some mathematics skills I suppose. Clear lecture, useful notes and examples.
My biggest beef with him is the exams. Some of the exam questions are downright unfair, and they look nothing like the material presented during class. He likes to take some questions from obscure theoretical computing science results that only a researcher would typically be well-versed about in a THIRD YEAR COURSE.
lectures are somewhat interesting and you can tell Valentine is passionate about algorithms and time complexity. Quizzes and exams are challenging
We had 4 quizzes and 1 final exam. Quizzes were based on assignments which were quite challenging. Be prepared to memorize algorithms, time complexity and proof by induction so forth. You need to put decent amount of time to understand materials. Valentine teaches it well, really cares about students' learning. Overall, I recommend him
The quizzes are like the assignments - with some extra things from lectures and readings. Lectures are basically where he just goes over/reads his onenote notes so the lectures tend to be quite bland. Sometimes distracted by his accent. Overall, his tests are easy to study for with what he provides you - not much extreme critical thinking imo.
super nice and caring . A real gem:)
4 quizzes. Requires some critical thinking. Pauses lecture regularly and asks if we have any questions. Nice during office hours. Only thing I don't like is his voice makes me sleepy. Definitely recommended for CMPT 307.
Course is a joke. Instructor doesn't change his tests from previous years so the course is just competitive cheating - due to this your graded very heavily on trivial mistakes and NOT on your understanding of concepts. It is easy to do well tho.
Kabanets covers the content well. He defines all terms that are used. The quizzes are challenging, but doable (and curved). The final has an easy bonus question (what is your favourite algorithm) that is worth something meaningful (5 bonus points out of 100 points on exam).
his exams are hard, but the questions are fair. do practice from his homework to make sure you can speed through the easy questions, and write very detailly in your answers. lectures are a bit dull since he mostly just read his note, so do ask him if you didn't get something. the biggest flaw of his course is a quiz on the last day of class.
One of the best professors i have had at SFU. Finally, for all these years I get to meet such a knowledgeable and wise prof. The lectures taught by him are great. But you really need to work for it.
Very good teacher! His lectures are great and he makes a lot of effort to make sure students understand the material. The methods for evaluating student understanding leaves much to be desired . Passing the course just involves memorizing things because tests are often too big and complex to solve without already knowing most of the answers.
307 is DIFFICULT. Study the material and do the homeworks when he posts them. Kabanets is a very friendly guy and he will do his best to make sure you understand the hard topics. Go to his office hours, even if its just to sit there and listen to other peoples questions. And dont be afraid to ask questions, the course content is very difficult!
CMPT 307 is extremely hard and Kabanets has tried to make our life a little bit easier. You will definitely learn a lot about the most popular type of algorithms, but you should study hard because his tests are very complicated. I'd reccomend to visit his office hours and to do all exercises from your homework.
Kabanets was a great prof to take 307 with. His lectures were very clarifying and he is very helpful during office hours. His handwriting is messy, but I was able to read it. I only wish his exams were a bit easier. But note that he does reuse questions from previous times he's taught this course.
I found lectures kind of confusing, but he was always happy and willing to answer my questions and help! He is really approachable. He clearly has an interest in what he is teaching.
An interesting prof who teaches an interesting class. He understands the material and is passionate about it. Lectures are all well-planned out, and the material is endlessly fascinating (but sometimes too mindblowing to understand). Uses Piazza forum to answer student questions promptly. Tests are like homework problems and contain no surprises.
He explains class materials pretty well and the materials are fair. The biggest problem is that he doesn't give answers to quizzes and assignments so you have to go to his office hours which he only hosts once per week.
Exam materials are way off the actual content that are described in the lectures. He doesn't bother rethinking new content for the course (homework, quizzes, etc.) and therefore reuses his old quizzes and homework for the tests. He doesn't even post the answer to the homework (he does describe them during the office hour though).
Algorithm is one of the most difficult courses in SFU CS. However, Valentine gives clear lectures and is a solid choice for this class. There are 4 difficult assignments that each take about 520 hours to finish that reinforce the in-class learning. Exams are fair and consist of questions similar to the assignment.
If you like taking on challenges, take this course. The material is HARD, way too HARD.
Hardest class I've taken. Super nice guy and tries to make your life easier when he can. Try to understand general concepts rather than stressing over specific details and proofs. You'll need to come up with solutions to hard problems you haven't seen before on exams, so don't take if you're not good at algorithms. Watch/attend all lectures
Amazingly good prof, explain everything well. Homework and exam are little hard.
Don't be misled by the other ratings. This course is hard no doubt, and Valentine teaches well but his quizzes are extremely hard and long. Not doable in 50 mins. He has 4 quizzes each 15% and a final for 40%.
I don't understand any other reviews below. His lecture handwritings are indecipherable, and he doesn't even write them in class - he merely scrolls over his cursive handwritings from 2017 during class. His typed out notes are unclear and the variables used are often undecided. It is not about difficulty, he just does not explain anything.
Lectures are read out of slides but slides are not useful for studying. Hmwk doesn't help with learning and quizzes are hard b/c there is not enough direction from lectures and hmwk to learn the fundamentals. Overall, material is doable but the education design could be a lot better. If you test poorly, take a prof that has assignments. Curved.
The course avg was C- and not be curved. Great professor!
to be honest, I felt like if I was just memorizing bunch of random algorithms for this class. He is a good lecturer, but not a fan of how he dealt with the class. he grades you by very few things. He didn't bother to scale/curve the class and left the avg to be C-. Avoid him.
and department approved his C- avg thing. wow
Useless lectures, materials, tests are harder versions of homework questions. The grading is solely dependent upon TA. Doesn't even bother to do extra questions in the class. Only go over the proofs whose theorems are in book. Read over his handwritten slides. He has knowledge not a good conveyer. Just avoid him at any cost/
Avoid him at all cost, old ratings are nit valid anymore
He was tough. Not taking him again. He teaches stuff in a complicated manner.
Wish i could give him zero. I am really questioning why he isn't evaluated being a teacher.
the antichrist. no exam average should be a 32/100.
First Exam Class Average: 32%. The highest grade is 70%. The exams are in no way related to what he is teaching and to add, the homework is not related at all to what he taught in class. For the exam, there are no practice exams or practice questions. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. How he is employed at SFU is beyond me.
He has said he doesn't mind failing majority of the class. This was after the average of quiz 1 was 30% and only 24 out of 120 people passed from it.
What was that first quiz? 30% average and said he will not scale or curve and fail the class? His quizzes aren't even close to the lecture material and he seems very full of himself. He cannot teach and his slides are horrible.
Like everyone else is saying this semester: full of himself, can't teach, average of quiz is 30%, only 20 people passed, won't scale and willing to fail most of the class, boring material. Avoid at all costs, what a absolute joke of a prof.
Yeah, everyone agrees this dude can't teach nor does he care about the students. If 24 people passed out of 120 and he isn't willing to scale, that speaks for itself. He acts like he's so smart and knows everything but in reality he's taking advantage of the students. How is this guy even teaching?
Don't trust any review that says he is above 1/5. He would be a 0/5 if that was an option. Worst prof of sfu.
Homework isn't even close to his lectures / notes. Then you have his homework only covering like 10% of the quiz. No wonder why 80% of the class failed quiz 1.
If you can wait to take this class, do so with another professor. This man just made an already hard class nearly impossible to pass. Average is 30% and he literally said he is willing to fail the class. He also spoke about suffering. He talks more about failing the class instead of teaching the class. Outdated, material doesn't connect to the quiz
Imagine waking up, going to class and watching this dude “teach”. Then you go home, and open the homework and notice that 10% is taught and nothing else makes sense. Then you go into the quiz and you get only 30% and he says he won't scale or curve when 80% of the class failed. Boring, garbage, can't teach, not learning, more crying, avoid!!!!!!!
What a joke of a class. “Data structures and algorithms”… more like “Confusion and failures”…garbage, do not take this prof! Read the rest of the reviews!!!! He literally cannot teach what he quizzes if his life depends on it.
This dude got 5/5 stars like years ago. Idk how one can age that fast and became the worst prof at sfu?
I didn't believe the other reviews. People tend to over react and say these things when they don't like the prof. Boy I was wrong. 32% average on quiz, no scale, majority of the class failed, and he still has the audacity to speak on suffering and willing to fail the class. How does sfu even select their profs. Horrible. Do not consider this dude.
4 quizzes and a final seemed reasonable for a class like this. Until his quizzes turned out to be nearly imspossible to get full marks on. The highest mark was 70% and the average was 30%. Majority of the class failed and he thinks he's cool by saying he'll fail most of the class. He shouldn't be a prof, he can't teach. Avoid. Avoid. AVOID.
Quizzes were too hard and the homework barely connects well into the material we are taught. Dropped.
Last year average of this class was a C-. Now only 24 people pass quiz 1. The trend continues of his disastrous teaching.
A course like this should teach you how to use data structures / algorithms and when. Not prove every single small instance of random non important details. This isn't discreet math. But he makes it like it is.
All the reviews this year are true. He's really a 1/5. Any thumbs down you see are by him. Avoid this class.
Alright we just did quiz 2. And that was alright. 3 questions only and 80 marks. If you don't know how to do the first part then you can't do the rest. + he chose an algorithm he barely went over and made it consist of like 30+ marks.
His lectures are engaging. However, the quizzes and assignments are extremely unfair. The number and difficulty of questions are unreasonable for a 50-minute timeframe. He seems to expect students to attend office hours regularly, but not everyone has the time or flexibility to do that. I'll be avoiding his courses in the future.
Cmpt 307 is far more easier with any other prof. He's making it insanely difficult with very low averages. I am not even learning anything that we should be learning in this course. Instead, I'm trying to memorize random theorems that will never help me in the real work force. This is an absolute nightmare and you must avoid taking it.
Just don't.
Yep, I agree with the rest of these ratings,
His lecture notes are complicated for no apparent reason. He is one of those guys that try to be smart by doing more than what is needed without knowing what he really is doing. That's this class. The aim for each quiz is write something down so you can pull a few marks and ride the average of 30%.
What Happened? His ratings used to be good, and now he is one of the worst professors, making a otherwise insightful class, an absolute nightmare where you don't learn anything. I would avoid this professor and take this class with anyone else possible.
Quiz 3 was harder than the first and that average was 30%. Getting ready to fail with most of the class.
He gave us the quiz, and it had a piece of hair on it. I tried to swipe it off but it didn't move, I realized he photo copied it on it. This threw me off and I couldn't remember anything I studied for. Another sneaky move by a prof who doesn't know we only have 50 minutes so 5 DP questions isn't suitable.
Quiz 3 was wayyy too long. We only had 50 minutes but the quiz was designed for 1.5-2 hours. The average will again be around 30% because everyone has said the same thing. It was to difficult and time consuming. The homework can barely prepare you and the lecture slides you literally need to memorize.
Still recovering from quiz 3. 100% failed it with most of the class.
Listen to all these reviews and avoid taking this class with him. Be smart, there's no point of spending money just to fail the class.
Dog water class.
Quiz 1: horrible, average failed. Quiz 2: better than horrible , not decent enough average was 40%. Quiz 3: worse than horrible. Average will be a fail again. Quiz 4: ? We'll find out what the final quiz holds. Avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid avoid this class with him.
I woke up today and remembered I'm in his class. Scary.
I believe that almost all the 1 rating reviews are accurate. However his lectures sometimes could be useful, his quizzes are very time crunched and difficult. You are only given quizzes and a final exam in this class so the chances of failing is very high. If you can, take this class with another professor as this is just not worth the struggle.
Failing average quizzes for all quizzes so far.
Amazing horrible at teaching data structures. Not sure what he expects on those quizzes.
Failing average, like way below failing. I talking about 30%.
Worst professor at SFU. How this guy got a teaching job makes me question the faculty.
Quiz 3 average: the worst one yet. 28%. Again, so far 3 quizzes and all 3 average is a fail.
Wow, another failing quiz. Not sure what he gets from this but now I have to re-enrol into this course since we are all failing.
To be truthfully honest, what is even going on in this class. Nobody can pass a quiz, the average was just 28%. This is the third time he's done this out of three quizzes. We got the last quiz next week and I doubt it isn't anything better. See y'all again next sem in this class. Different prof = 10x better class.
I'm not even learning anymore. Just trying to survive. Part marks is what I am for and I still get 0's. Average so low I thought it couldn't get any lower.
I want other students to know to never take a class with him. You might only need this to graduate and there might not be another section option, just wait for another semester. You might think you'll pass, but you won't. Don't take this class with him, you will fail every quiz and need to stress about taking it again. Horrible prof.
MISERABLE MISERABLE MISERABLE!!! CLASS AVERAGES OF 30 40 THEN BELOW 30!!! SMALL SMALL MAN WHO WANTS TO SHOW OFF HIS POWER TO STUDENTS!!! QUIZZES TOO LONG AND CHALLENGING TO BE DONE IN 50 MINS WHEN THE BEST BRIGHTEST STUDENT IN THE CLASS CANT GET A 70!!!
Avoid. Three quizzes so far (45% of total mark) with failing averages (and lower medians). Highest grade is ~70-80% out of ~120 students (3-4 students). Curves to a C-, most students will have to retake the class. Feels like I'm being hazed. This course needs so much more to be taught properly.
Quiz 4, the last quiz is coming up tomorrow. I assume more reviews will be posted on how bad this class has been. Average around 35% of the class right now heading into this and final exam week. Most will fail, hopefully they can ride the curve to a pass? Who knows, this prof has absolutely lost the entire class.
Basically what every other 1/5 review has said, I agree. Enough said, don't try to be smart and think you can pass his quizzes. He doesn't even show up to the quizzes either, his TA's do. Absolute garbage and waste of money. Already re enrolled in the other section for next semester.
Quiz 4 was fair. But it took him 3 quizzes to finally give a fair quiz. I highly doubt the average is more than 45% though. So we will see. Final exam next week, no cheat sheet, this is a disaster class still.
Doesn't even show up on quiz days and lets the TA's handle it. He really did not care about this class nor what he quizzes us on. Take this class with a different prof and save the misery before it is too late.
Final exam tomorrow, no prep given. Told us to go over previous quizzes and homework. Like we didn't do that for the quizzes and the average came out to be 20%. This guy has lost it.
I knew I should have dropped this course when I had the chance. Now I'm staring at a 32% average in the class going into a 3 hour final with no knowledge on what to expect. Truly one of a kind class that makes you think on how dumb you are.
Final exam day, already feeling the failing average.
The end of this course, still an absolutely avoid. This prof doesn't know what students should learn / get tested on. Astonished by how bad everyone did. The final exam is going to be the same.
The worst class I ever took at SFU. Avoid at all costs. The lectures didn't match the homework or the quizzes. I ended up dropping the course with a WD on my transcript, and I am glad I did. I saw my friends in the class suffer immensely.
Quiz 4 which is the last quiz… average is still a fail. So all quizzes had an average of failing, and the final exam was 10x harder.
The entire class average was a fail. We were averaging below 40%. The final exam I expect average 30%. So what does he do? Fail everyone? Make the average a C-? This class is impossible.
This professor is a huge red flag. No wonder the average of his last semester was a C-. We are averaging a fail after the final and this class just puts you into depression.
A very very difficult class that is very important. We didn't get tested on many actual data structures and algorithms but more so of proofs. At some points I had no idea what I should write due to how difficult he structured the questions and how limited time we had.
The worst.
What a roller coaster of a semester only because of this class. The workload is fairly low but the difficulty is on another level. You have 50 minutes per quiz to hope to get 2-3 out of the 5 questions done as they are very time consuming and need quite a lot of thinking. The final exam was like 2 quizzes combined and people had blank pages.
He doesn't know how to test his students. I honestly did not know what I wrote down on any quiz and final question. I could have wrote an essay and still got 0/10 on the question. If you don't have the exact wording, you aren't getting part marks.
Very bad prof. Just like what everyone else said.
I want students to know that if you are going to take this class with him as the prof, you must be ready to accept a failing average. No matter how many hours you think you put in, you will not pass all quizzes. Maybe if you are lucky you pass 1. Otherwise, just take it with another prof.
Out of all the classes I have ever taken, this one is thee most difficult one. I spoke to others who said it's a difficult class but average was 60-70%. Our average was 30%.
Final average was 35%.
Average of the final exam was around 35%. The entire class average was around the same mark with the 4 quizzes. This is absurd.
Showed up to the final hoping for some leniency from the prof. Nope. Average 35%. This is how the entire semester went. Nearly everyone failing.
Came into this class as a proud fourth year CS major with a 3.81 GPA. Averaged 38% on his four quizzes (60% of the grade!) and managed an incredible 44% on his final exam (the other 40% of the grade!). Apparently I should feel good? Do. Not. Take. ANYTHING. With. Him!!!!! HE. DOES. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU.
Never in my life have I ever been happy to get a C+ before.
Definitely would not take this guy again. The lecture notes don't align with what he shows in class and the averages are 30-40% with all the grades coming from 4 quizzes and 1 final. Concepts are already hard enough to understand but the way he teaches with his handwritten notes that aren't what you get in class makes it a teach it yourself course.
This has to be the saddest course that I've taken so far at SFU. I thought that it would be a good class for improving problem solving and understanding of different mathematical theorems, but it's more like a brutal memorization challenge. What is taught is rarely directly useful for the quizzes. I'm going to fail and I'm fine with it.
If you're interested in computability and complexity theory, I'd recommend taking this course with Valentine If you don't think you'd be interested in those topics, avoid this course with him The material is hard, but the lectures are taught at a slow pace Lectures are broad. The HW covers some applications. The textbook as many examples
The absolute worst professor at SFU! Didn't think my first fail would be a non-required course but here we are... There's no reason to have a C- average in a course like this. If partial marks were considered and lectures actually pertained to the tested topics, it wouldn't be hard to get a decent grade.
C- average, don't need to say much, worst experience, many failed. Content and questions don't relate at all. if anyone decides to take this course with him after this rmp then.....
If you're the type of student who goes to office hours and reads the textbook, you'll be fine. If you're not just avoid taking 307 with him and go with anyone else, you will most likely fail. Each quiz is worth 15% so basically you have 4 midterms and a final. Go with Kay or Jocelyn and save your gpa.
I don't want to say it's common, but it's fair enough even though the class average is C-. I didn't attend class after the first week (maybe MIT 6.006 on YouTube helps you better). If you understand the assignments (not graded) and key concepts, you should be fine to pass with an unsatisfactory grade :) ..
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
10%
Textbook Required
36%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B-
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.27 avg changeRatings by Course
CMPT710
5.0
(1)CMPT405
4.7
(3)CMPT705
3.0
(3)CMPT308
2.8
(18)CMPT407
2.5
(2)Difficulty by Course
CMPT705
5.0
CMPT405
5.0
CMPT307
4.6
CMPT308
4.5
CMPT407
4.0