It is difficult to understand what he's saying. He seems like a nice person but he is very unclear in what he wants and assumes you understand. He expects hand ins done a certain way but is vague about what that way is.

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Yong is such a nice guy but probably shouldn't be a prof. He struggles to explain concepts or answer questions as his english isn't fluent. Lectures are extremely dry and hard to sit through. Reading the textbook was the only way to really understand the material.

A nice guy, but from a student perspective, Yong fails at being a professor and gives horrible incomprehensible lectures. Lectures are not well organized, or presented, and the difficulty to understand him does not help either. Has trouble explaining concepts easily to students. Will end up having to learn all course material from outside sources.

If the course was not hard enough, making out what he says is. this is my second course with him. In many cases he has been demotivating. If by any chance you go to his office hours and actually find him there, he will be very hard at you. to the point you would not want to go again, lecture and slides are very difficult to follow. goodresearcher

Really doesnt care about students. Highly unclear lectures. Unclear about expectations. If things arent done his way you'll pay for it. If you try discuss marks with him things will go from bad to worse even if you try to be respectful. Class should be a key part of the computer science program. Unfortunately Gao completely ruins that.

He is a good guy and even good researcher. But, being good researcher does not mean to be a good professor! You need to teach yourself because you mostly do not understand his language! The worst part is that, if your assignment or project does not meet his expectation even though you spent too much on it, you would get a bad grade!

Being the smartest, most effective lecturer in the world won't help you if you can't speak in a clear and captivating manner. I've given Gao the same feedback for 3 courses now and he never changes. Yes, it's not his fault for having a speech impediment, but there are things he could do such as use a mic.

I feel bad for all the kids that come to UBC Okanagan to study computer science only to end up in Dr. Gao's class. Some people should not teach to be honest, and Gao is one of them. Please try to avoid him at all costs unless it is a required course! UBC should also hire better teachers so that Gao can just focus his energy on research. Zero!

Stick to research, please. Terrible, nearly impossible to understand and I really feel like I'm missing way more material than I should. A shame that UBC hired someone that nobody can understand.

He talks a looooot in lectures but says literally nothing... and his slides is just nothing! Proofs of examples are not even complete. The most important part is allllllways missing!!!! WHY!!!

just terrible, similar experience to all the other cosc221 ratings

Very bad at communicating ideas.

Although I haven't even finished the course, I already know that this is the worst professor I have ever had or will ever have. Gaos lectures are in broken english and do nothing to clarify the material at all. The only redeeming quality is that the test are not worth a lot and you can pass while failing all the tests.

While there's nothing wrong with the course material, Prof Gao could not deliver it in a comprehensible manner, and refused multiple times to record lectures for students who would have a difficult time attending lectures. If you have to take this course with Gao - reading the slides is much easier than the lecture.

10/10 would not take again!

Being in this class felt like I was getting robbed. I've never had such a rude/unprofessional instructor. UBCO has him teaching mandatory courses for CS but honestly, if you have time, wait until another Prof offers the course to take whatever he's teaching that you need. Otherwise, the textbook is going to be your only way to navigate the class.

Dropped his class after the first lecture, could tell it would be a waste of time. Could not communicate any of the material effectively. Lecture slides had no information of use and lecture was not recorded. Dropped the class when he told us he expected us to stay up to the wee hours of the night to complete the work for his course. Avoid.

One lesson was enough to realize that he doesn't deserve to be called a "professor". He doesn't record his lectures, he is impossible to understand. Doesn't answer questions. I dropped his class. Taking it some other time with an actual professor.

Terrible prof. Hes so unorganized- check his courses Canvas and youll see. His English is VERY hard to understand that you dont know what hes saying most of the time. Makes thousands of dollars but cant afford a proper microphone. He doesnt know how to teach and skips details a lot that would later be asked on an exam. Avoid him if you can.

Awful. Awful. Awful. This is hands down the worst professor you will ever have. He is a nightmare. He can't do anything properly. Avoid him, and then maybe UBC wake up.

While the professor is nice, his teacher style is absolutely terrible. Be prepared to do all the work completely on your own and be prepared to feel like you have no idea what you're doing at all. His lectures are extremely hard to follow because he struggles to muster a basic sentence, and the course is heavily disorganized. AVOID!

Have a lecture with him at 8 am ONLINE, yet he CHOOSES not to record it (it's 2 clicks to record a zoom meeting). It's almost like he wants his students to suffer from sleep deprivation... also I don't learn anything if I'm there anyway.

Easily the worst prof I've ever had. You can't understand anything he says and he barely even tries to explain concepts. Attending lectures is completely pointless and you're going to end up confused about what you're doing 90% of the time. Avoid taking any class with him at all costs if you want to save your sanity.

dr gao has terrible slides, so if you don't remember what he said in class you're not gonna be able to learn his material from the slides alone. the textbook is just about the only way to study for stuff. the material in his class is extremely easy, and he grades easy, but he is an awful prof.

Horrible professor. He is probably one of, if not the worse professor I have ever had in my life. Classes are mandatory. Every assignment are nothing like he teaches and I would 100% recommend anyone to not take a course with this professor.

If he's your prof, do yourself a favor and drop the course. It isn't even hyperbole to say that you will learn NOTHING from his classes. Doesn't teach the assignment material in class and you're left to just figure everything out on your own. He doesn't record his lectures, but there isn't much of a point showing up anyways.

Please, just run away now (unless you have no choice, of course, like me). He doesn't record lectures and you have to attend for iClicker credit. Even so, you can't understand a word out of his mouth, so you're also going to have to teach yourself. Also assignments are deadly and marked inconsistently on the regular. Every man for themselves.

Yong Gao is the worst professor I have had so far. His speech patterns make it extremely difficult to understand what he's saying, he refuses to record lectors for whatever reason and his slides are very confusing and hard to follow. The assignments in this class are unnecessarily difficult and Gao doesn't answer emails so good luck getting help.

Do not. I repeat, DO NOT take Gao's class. His lectures are at 8am and he doesn't record them. There are iclicker quizzes during the lecture which are worth a huge chunk of the final grade. You'll barely hear anything his says leave alone understanding whatever he is teaching. Run for your life.

Yong is absolutely the worst professor I have had. Prepare to teach yourself every last ounce of the material because he fails miserably at conveying any information at all. His slides are also a mess so good luck! If UBC gave tuition refunds, Yong's classes would be the bread and butter of the eligibility criteria. I'm just glad it's over

He does not update his sylabus, you will find things from few years ago littered everywhere, quiz and exams due dates are not set or completely wrong, does not show you what types of questions / how many questions are going to be on exam. Replies to emails very late, Very hard to understand his lectures, best to rely on youtube videos and peers.

Easily the worst prof I've ever had. An absolute joke of an educator, how does this guy get paid to teach.

Gao seems like a nice guy but he is a poor poor prof, he cannot convey any information during lectures os get ready to read a lot of the book. His assignments do not reflect the lecture material at all so also be ready to be very confused on top of this the grading of the assignments is very tough. Overall very poor prof who you wont learn with

Just don't. No communication between professor and TAs. You need to essentially teach yourself the course and fight for your marks. If you can avoid him, make sure you do, AT ALL COSTS.

I'm not sure how this guy has 5/5 scores on this thing. He is very difficult to understand, made iClickers worth 20% of our grade, and had mandatory unrecorded classes at 8 am during COVID. The grade distribution was a mess, (0% midterm?) assignment grading was all over the place, and the final was a gong show. Take this class in the summer.

Worst prof ever. He was difficult to understand, he won't record the classes so you have to join zoom. The grade was based on assignments (individual and team), 2 "quizzes" and the final exam. If you do the assignments and have a good team, you'll do well. Also, be prepared to self-study for this class.

Prof Gao might be a nice person but he does not know how to speak clearly. He has such a heavy accent and stutters a LOT to such a point that you will not be able to understand anything he says. The assignments are vague and random marks get cut without any explanation. Thankfully the textbook helps a lot in this class and that's how I understand.

run. run away right now. you will NOT understand a thing he says, and there is hardly any communication between him and the poor TAs so good luck trying to get in touch with him through email. As an international student paying $4k for this MANDATORY class, I feel like my money has been wasted and has gone down the drain.

if you can avoid taking this professor, do it

This professor is notorious in the computer science department. There is a reason EVERYONE will tell you to avoid this professor at all costs, and it is justified. Stay away

Stay away, he can't teach

Guys I know this prof isn't the best however there is a fun game you can play. Try to see if he ever takes a sip from this coffee. So far we're 2 lectures in and not one sip has been taken from his coffee, cheers!

When the class average was 52% on the first quiz, of which the questions were straightforward there was just a misunderstanding by us students because it was poorly explained, he said he would not go over the questions, and that the topic was fundamental and we shouldn't have gotten it wrong. He's just here for research money. idk how he was hired

AVOID HIM AT ALL COSTS! He is an awful teacher, he mumbles around and has the worst slides I have ever seen. The first "simple quiz" had a class average of 50% and he refused to go over it because it was simple material. Its easy to pass if you go to class for his 20% iclickers which he gives you the answer and find a good team for group seminars.

ermm... what is he even saying literally

Yong Gao is a nice prof. However the teaching is rough, I have never felt like I did not understand anything as much as I did when I took his class. His lectures were very hard to follow, and what he was saying was hardly ever consistent with what was in his slides. If you want to pass, use the textbook, and hope your TA is good.

this guys gotta be the worst prof at ubc

The marking of the assignments and the labs is inconsistent. Therfore, it makes it very difficult to study for the exams as the questions are literally from the assignments. The TAs are also not of any help due to prof's inability to regularly interact with them. I would have aced this course if it was well structured.

Pretty useless, all of the other reviews have nailed it. The class itself isn't that hard if you know where to look. Type of class that is an easy 80 but impossible 100. Unfortunately you do have to struggle through the lectures if you want the full 20% from clickers.

I truly wish I could give him a good rating cause he seems like a great guy, but holy he couldn't coherently explain the alphabet to a rocket scientist. I had already taken cosc222 before I had taken this class and when he started talking about trees I had to tune him out cause it was actively making me lose memory on the subject

Very nice guy but genuinely useless at teaching. Youll understan maybe 5% of what he says. Try to take a different prof if you can

Material is interesting, Gao is not. Lectures are painful, and clickers are worth 20% and he gives you the answer if you're in class so it helps if you go. Easy class to pass, and you don't need to pass the final, so there's that at least. Textbook can help if you read that, or maybe youtube videos. Either way, just get it done and move on.

This professor constantly stutters. Even people who don't know about the topic and are given 5 minutes to prepare right before each lecture will do better than him. People barely showed up even though iClickers are worth 20%. His PPTs are terrible for notes. Quote from a friend of mine: "He has the verbal coherency of a dysfunctional microwave."

At all costs, avoid this "teacher." He couldn't form a proper sentence if he tried, which he certainly doesn't. He puts about the same amount of effort into his slides, which look like they were plucked out of a presentation made by a 12-year-old in the early 2000s.

This broski can't speak

The entire structure of the class is completely disorganized, and it's hard to follow along with anything, be it the lectures, the assignments, or the projects, let alone how they relate to each other sometimes. Knowing what is expected of us is almost impossible because it's just not told to us in any way. He does not even use canvas properly.

It's very hard to follow his lectures. Pretty much disorganized and slides doesn't explain the content well either. Avoid if possible

Honestly attending his lectures filled me with a deep rage

I have sailed across the seas and flown through the sky, but the last place I wanted to be is in this guy's classroom.

If you ever consider taking this class with Dr. Gao, just don't.

It is difficult to follow Professor Gao. The slides don't explain very much and he sometimes starts using terms without defining them first. I learned more from a 10 minute Youtube video than two 50 min lectures.