2.7
Quality4.0
Difficulty32%
Would Retake134
Reviews32%
Would Retake
134
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
37
4
15
3
5
2
32
1
45
What Students Say
“He doesnt use books, so confusing his style”
MATH1102 - 2.0 rating“He never gives any proper solutions of the practice problems”
MATH1102 - 1.0 ratingClass Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
58%
Textbook Required
41%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
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1102
5.0
(1)5900
5.0
(1)94204
5.0
(2)LINALGBII
5.0
(1)MATH1005
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
69105
5.0
MATH4809
5.0
MATH3106
4.9
MATH2100
4.7
MATH2152
4.6
Reviews (134)
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cool teacher! very helpful! hope to haev maore calsses with him! way to go prof!..although needs to waer different outfits to calss more often!!!!!
Awesome prof! I now understand Calculus.
[thick Russian accent] "Now, is Storytime. Today, I show you how use matrices to solve Rubik's Cube in only 11 steps. Storytime tomorrow I teach you Russian alphabet so you understand meanings of words on vodka bottles." Seems like a nice guy
Excellent prof. For all those who think that Dube is best - haha. Yuly is the best. Just listen and take notes, Yuly gives excellent notes.
Great teacher. Very clear.
Oh Yuly... A good class though it was really boring but it's the course not the prof. Solved a rubics cube using matrix functions and the tests were good. He sneers when he smiles but that's alright if you go and do the problem sets you're fine.
FANTASTIC! Difficult to understand sometimes with his russian or east european accent. Yet with his mangaled phrases creates complete clarity who would have thought this to be possible.
I'm in love with this guy :D
billig's the man ! funny, thorough, and good stories too.
very confusing accent and not helpful
HE RULZ...the best ever.
super prof. awesome marker.
Yuly is awesome! He gives great notes and tries so hard to make the classes dynamic (but honestly, math first thing in the morning means sleepy students). Again with the Rubik's Cube ... he must really like Group theory. ^^ Definitely hope I have him for Math 2004.
Very helpful prof, and smart as ever. He actually teaches a quantum computing class as well. Don't ask him for help if you've been cutting classes, he can always tell and he'll rip on you for it.
A GREAT prof would defenitly take this course with him.
VERY smart, teaches really well, doesnt waste time on stupid things, i love his russian jokes
This prof is great, goes pretty fast but he explains well. Always has a story or topic to talk about (teleportation,russian alphabet,rubiks cube..funny guy). Pretty decent tests too.
A really good prof. In upper year math courses he has lots of bonus marks available on both assignments and tests, which allows for those mistakes that everyone makes to not ruin you. Approachable and funny, really cares about his students and offers chances for some of the students to improve with additional lectures/topics.
Brilliant professor with great knowledge about Science and Math. Teaches a lot of theories in class, and also enlightens us with a lot of stories. All the theorems does prove to be a lot of challenge but if you attend every single one of his class, you can understand more than you think you did.
Like everyone else here says: attend the class regularly because every single one of his words said and written (other than his fun side stories) are extremely important being abstract math and all. Very helpful professor, esp. during his office hours
Good prof. Very easy marker.
Avoid him,very hard marker, if you dont anw the question the way he wants he gives 4/10 no matter if you anwser was right, he did not use the text book, did not post the solutions to the asssignment and returned the assignments 3 days before the midterm, he returns assigment 1 when collecting assignment 2 and he deducts marks for the same mistakes.
He doesnt use books, so confusing his style. the course contents are hard and he makes them way harder by not giving proper assignments and solution to them.
Overall good prof and really focused on helping students learn.
avoid him at any cost.
Only speaks in theoretical language. I.e. if you ask him to clarify something he can only give the textbook definition. He is really, really smart and knows what he is talking about though. You just need to put in a lot of work to understand the material, which is the nature of this type of course unfortunately. His tests are really fair.
I should have dropped his class :(
his very funny, but not helpful. He makes easy subjects sound hard
I took this course with him last year and failed! Now by repeating the course with a different professor (A- standing ), I can see how confusing and bad his class was.
I wish if he was giving assignments, or at-least giving solutions to suggested problems that he posts once in a while.
He returns assignment and midterms very late. The book is even more confusing than him.
Ask him a question and he gets frustrated. He is always rushed during lectures. Material is hard, yet he makes it harder.
Yuly is a good prof. His TAs are hit and miss, which is bad bc they teach tutorials (assignments and key questions reviewed). But, I went to Yuly with specific questions and he dedicated his time until I understood. Also, I messed up two numbers despite understanding a concept on the 2nd midterm. TA marked me C; Yuly reviewed and gave me an A-.
You might understand some of what he says in class, but that doesn't mean you can pass any of his tests. He tests are so hard and unrelated to his lectures.
was a good prof. study hard and you can enjoy his classes
Avoid. Everything is unclear, and when you ask a question you feel even more confused by his response. He is disorganized and covers random material not related to the subject. Possibly the worst prof I have had yet. Course: MATH 3106 and MATH 5104
He's a good professor who knows a lot application of math, but that's probably what's making him teaching in a rush. He spends 15 to 20 minutes to talk about stuffs related to neither midterm nor final exams, and then he doesn't have enough time to talk about important stuffs, so he teaches really fast and rushes to the end
Yuly Billig's is not a good teacher and his class averages speak for themselves. Average on the 2004 midterm was 23/50. Yet another undergrad prof who's in it for the research not the teaching.
Never take his class NEVER. Almost half of the MATH 2004 class dropped this course because of low average on midterm. He does not even offer 100% final. He talks about random stuff in class and never teaches properly.
One of the best math professors out there without a doubt. A guaranteed laugh in every lecture, doesn't depend much on the textbook and extremely helpful and approachable. He tries to make every lecture interactive which is what you want in a math class.
Great professor. His notes are all worded very clearly, and he explains everything extremely well. The material can be tough, but it is worth it, as it gives you a great understanding of mathematics.
He never gives any proper solutions of the practice problems.
You do not need the textbook, but showing up to class is non-negotiable. Focuses on ability to negotiate the problem than on proofs in tests. Has an accent but his lecture is very good, incorporating applications and ensuring prereqs are met before explaining. Patient about stuff and accessible.
If you are taking 1102, right off the bat, respect it. It is a difficult subject to grasp (at least initially) and the homework is really required to understand the material. You wont (at least 99% chance) understand what Billig is teach you in the lecture, but his notes are excellent and if you spend extra time you will "get" it. office hour(!!!)
If you like math, your going to LOVE 2100. He takes complex ideas and introduces them with unique insight that highlights the beauty and hidden intuition behind them. A gifted teacher who loves the math he teaches. This class has changed my academic interests from physics to abstract algebra. Truly a class I won't forget. Thank you Billig!
The topics and ideas that he covers are very fascinating and interesting. However, his notes aren't very well organized and explanation is often very unclear for some of the lectures. I wish he could cover topics at a slower pace.
Not very organized
The teacher's teaching progress is very fast, and the questions are more difficult. And every exam needs to be marked with latex, which is difficult and greatly reduces the score.
He explains topics too fast in lectures and never gives proper examples for certain topics. Some questions on his tests are neither related to the lectures nor the textbook. Most confusing class ever.
Lectures are confusing, doesn't give solutions to practice problems so tough to tell when i am correct or not
Doesnt post solutions to any of the practice problems which just makes this class much more difficult
Would not recommend
sometimes material on test don't relate to lecutres/textbook
He seems very smart. However, his explanation is unclear. Some of his lectures only cover theoretical examples rather than practice problem examples, which is very confusing because there are no solutions to the practice problems.
Yuly Billig is an excellent professor and a must-have prof. for Honours Math students wanting to pursue a career in academia. We were told that 1152 is a notoriously hard course from the start but there were some things I wish Yuly would have done differently with online learning e.g. way too many hours of lectures
Professor Billig is so nice and really good. At first it was difficult to understand him but you get use to it. We had to type all of our tests in latex which took over three hours, so much wasted time. He is so sweet though, I would recommend.
Yuly Billig was one of the best profs I've had thus far. The course material is challenging, though his lectures were very helpful and detailed. He was always willing to help and responded to his emails quite fast. I would definitely take his class again :)
Going to his office hours is recommended because he explains stuff much more clearly than he does in his lectures.
Shares lots of fascinating knowledge in Algebra. However, his tests are a completely different story. Lots of test questions covered are unrelated to lectures or textbook.
Yuly doesn't hand out answers but is very good at guiding you in the right direction if you demonstrate effort and take the initiative to reach out. His lecture videos are filmed on YouTube rn. The production value is honestly impressive. For most first-years, MATH1152 will not be easy, but taking the course with Yuly is a good choice.
Very unorganized! His lectures can be quite confusing to the fact that he writes theories all over the place and NEVER KEEPS THINGS SIMPLE!
Knowledgeable theories but way too many hours of lecture time! Also, there are not enough examples in his lectures!
Overcomplicates material a lot and does not give enough examples!
Professor Billig teaches a very difficult class and some of the concepts he explains are very difficult to wrap your head around at first. He is an amazing professor and very helpful in tutorials, but I would not recommend him if you do not love math and aren't willing to put in a few extra study hours. Take detailed notes and reread them often.
I wish he could give more examples in his lectures! Tries really hard though to assist people in tutorials.
Very confusing class. He isn't very organized and tends to throw in theoretical points in between examples. In addition, his TAs are useless. They never show up for tutorials.
For some topics, he never gave us enough examples to help us prepare, especially proofs.
Looks like he's knowledgeable but does not know how to reason in his lectures! Makes people guess during tutorials and when attempting practice problems most of the time.
At first it was hard to getting used to working with LATEX. I believe that a whole bunch of easy marks were lost. Now, that we are familiarized with latex, we only have to worry about learning the definitions and theorems. He is a good professor if you like challenges. Im glad that he is teaching this course.
Thinks he's cool saying that he's trying to pass as many people as he can but he wastes over an hour for some lectures just talking about theorems and never bothers giving any examples. I asked him if he could give me an example and he just refuses saying every problem is special in a way. Finds excuses towards assistance.
Explains about how learning proofs is an objective when he never properly gives similar examples during lectures that are tied to practice problems, tutorials or tests.
Very stubborn Prof who gives nightmare-ish long tests (6 hours).
Understandable that the material is hard but lectures are often extremely unorganized. His answers to questions are often confusing. Good prof for those who like extra challenges but would not recommend otherwise.
He introduces interesting theories but never explains the stuff thoroughly in a reasonable matter. For example, he almost never explains why you apply this theory to that certain proof.
Can be very challenging but very approachable outside of class and during tutorials!
Almost never gives any examples during lectures. Even for lectures where he has examples, he purposely sets almost every problem aside and never even bothers going over it. Very frustrating!
The textbook he recommends is pretty much useless as it does not relate much at all to practice questions. His lectures only cover around half of the material and can often leave some people in confusion. Without Carleton Math online resource, you might pretty much get lost in this class unless you like to face more challenges.
Billig is knowledgeable but he cannot teach in a way that would make students understand the topic and relates more to memorization, since he never gives reasoning towards theories. Oh, and when you ask him for examples, he gets frustrated and refuses to do so.
Lecture recordings are not used wisely. While its very long for some, he does not give much explanation to theorems at all and his ways are only useful for memorizing. Not very consistent with his office hours. Ends way before the expected time.
I really liked the different topics covered in this course, especially permutations which I found to be very interesting. However, a 6 or 8 hour test is extremely unnecessary and abnormal. For some students, it conflicts so many other important lectures or tutorials that should be taking place at the same time.
His tests are extremely rough and long. Some questions are not related to the studied topic at all.
Algebra can be a difficult class for starters but if you take it with him, he can make it engaging in tutorials. If you ask him questions and he gets frustrated, that usually means that you never watched his lectures NOT because he responds in a confusing way or refuses to help people. However, tests can be an extreme pain, especially LATEX.
Had Billig last year for Algebra! I wish he could reduce the amount of material on tests and make them shorter. His lengths are ridiculously long. 6-8 hours? Like why? I don't know if he really understands that students have other courses that they need to worry about. He conflicts a lot of important things with his tests.
Avoid! Had him 2 terms straight. He lacks clarity whenever he proves things in Algebra. Lectures are often a mess, making it super hard to follow along. Some of the theories on certain tests are neither related to the lectures nor the textbook.
I don't understand why he doesn't post lectures online this term. He creates an obstacle towards so many people who are required to take this course based on their program. Not everyone wants in-person classes while covid is still going on.
This guy is just making things more complicated. His lectures are so confusing and only cover a small amount of the topic itself. Had to do online research to pretty much understand the topics he covered. Goes by proofs so quickly and barely gives any proper examples to problem solving.
If you are reading this, avoid taking classes with Billig in future years if possible. Most of his classes are very brutal. He will make your life and semester a huge nightmare with tests that are EXTREMELY difficult! I get that Algebra is a challenging course but BILLIG, PLEASE lower the difficulty of tests and final exam!
Tries to seem like he cares for his students but he never bothers. The amount of material he covers per lecture is so much compared to other classes, but can also be very difficult to understand. He rushes too often and a lot of students can't even keep up with him! It's definitely not a good option for him to make classes in person.
Don't recommend this guy! Never explains things thoroughly and always tries to rush in his lectures. Refuses to give examples because he says that it never helps students actually learn, which is not even true. A lot of people learn by looking at examples to understand topics. Always leaves important things as an exercise. I'm done with him!
His lecture is confusing and he has a lot of homework. His course is very challenging and is very hard to pass. His course even do not have a textbook or a powerpoint! It is really hard to keep the pace of his lecture. I do not recommend this professor.
His courses are extremely hard to pass, especially the fact that a lot of his lecture explanations are not helpful at all. Most of the practice questions aren't even related to the lecture notes. He spends too much time covering theorems and barely gives any examples to actually support his claim.
This Billig guy already ruined my first year at Carleton, refusing to listen to students about the difficulty of tests and final exam. It seems like he just wants to see students suffer rather than actually helping them understand the material. Never posts solutions to practice problems or tutorials. Expects students to dig in a lot of time.
I don't think he cares for students that much. Tried to give extremely difficult tests with more than half the questions not even covered in class. Expects students to have memorized theories but a lot of people really need actual examples to even understand. He also ends office hours way too early and doesn't give others a chance to ask him.
Do not take MATH courses with Billig if you want things to be straightforward. The load of his class is BRUTAL. His ways of interpreting theories are very difficult to understand. Besides, he hates giving examples and would do anything to avoid this. Very hypocritical too, pretending he cares for students but instead makes things much harder.
Honours math courses are inherently difficult. Professor Billig told us this from the very beginning. His teaching style is very thorough. He covers theory at a precise and instructive level. It's completely untrue that Billig doesn't cover examples - they comprise most of the lecture. If your goal is to understand math deeply, take his courses.
Would not recommend at all. While math courses do tend to be challenging, he delivers content in a way that is often very confusing and several times more complicated than the course should be. Does not give examples relating to proofs, which appears frequently on tests. Ends office hours too early.
Very confusing lectures. Moves in a pace that's very difficult to keep up. Leaves too many things as an exercise without starting an example related to them. Lack of proof examples especially. Never posts solutions to practice problems. Did online research on the topics covered and got an A on tests.
Challenging but extremely interesting! Gives a lot of motivation for why we study what we study instead of simply stating results with no commentary. Highly recommend!
Algebra is normally a challenging course but he tried to make it several times more difficult with heavy and confusing lectures. His tests are way too brutal and often cover things that are unrelated to lectures or textbook. His office hours sometimes end way too early and some people don't even have a chance of asking him.
Lectures are totally confusing. Even if you pay attention in class, you still won't understand the way he explains the concepts. Focus is too much on theoretical things. Examples on Algebraic proofs are not enough at all and expects so much of them on tests. His response to questions are even more confusing.
I understand that Algebra is an advanced course but the tests that he gives are very difficult. Practice problems only help prepare for 50% of the test while the other half consists of questions that never appeared in lectures or textbook. Never posts solutions to practice problems/tutorials and waits forever to upload solutions to tests.
Focuses too much on theoretical stuff. There's barely enough application type questions to help crack into practice problems. In fact, most of these types of questions are left as an exercise which is ridiculous. Be ready to research application examples yourself.
He may seem knowledgeable but his lectures are very difficult to follow along, even after watching it so many times. Leaves many important concepts as an exercise, which should be covered as they need clarification. Very tough expectations too on tests, which are extremely difficult and are graded super heavily!
Would definitely stay away if possible! His approaches to the course are almost always like a puzzle, which is pointless because the concepts should be presented with examples. He also doesn't have a consistent office hours time range, sometimes ending way too early.
Prof Billig encourages class participation and tries to be helpful. However, his lecture delivery is often rushed and almost always focused theory-wise. Hardly gives strong examples.
I loved this professor! Learned so much from him.
He encourages students to work together in lectures as much as possible but his course evaluations are hardly ever related to any of the lectures. Some of his explanations also tend to be all over the place.
Yuly has a deep knowledge when it comes to this course. However, his attitude is kind of harsh and self-righteous. His lecture delivery method is also kind of uninspiring. Never attempts to give much examples other than stuff that's not even related to his evaluations and expects unnecessary details in his evaluation. Would not take again!
No lecture notes, immediate L
Found the course concept interesting but that was only through the textbook. The lectures themselves are very dry and rushed. Likes to throw a bunch of theorems at us but leaves several proofs for us to do on our own without any feedback. Tests were also extremely difficult.
No examples, no solutions to his practice problems. Lectures hard to follow
Prof. Billig is a nice guy, very bright, and a good lecturer. But I got a poor grade in his group theory course because the final exam was worth 70% of the course grade, there were several topics that were taught that ultimately weren't tested, while a couple topics from later in the course took up a disproportionate amount of the test. Be warned.
The prof's questions on evaluations get ridiculous with complex wording and lots of concepts that are hardly ever discussed in class. He welcomes everyone to his office hours but his answers to questions often get super confusing. Would not take again!
If you want to learn the mathematics deeply, highly recommend him. But sometimes his class progress is a little bit fast, make sure doing some previews before his class.
Terrible! Overcomplicates topics and does not motivate anyone. Teaches materials at a ridiculous speed. Sometimes leaves important concepts as an exercise, which he never ends up taking up or discussing with students afterwards. Hardly any straightforward examples.
While I do love theory-type courses, Prof Billig refuses to clarify different parts of the lectures and attempts to want students to guess the most important points. Tests are extreme with lots of questions never covered before in-class notes or textbooks. The grading scheme is out of control with a 70% exam.
Tests for this class were as simple as can be. Exactly the same format as the practice he puts online. Good teacher too, and seems very passionate. The exam was a little more challenging but definitely not the worst.
had him for 1104 class last year winter, there was no lecture note provided on the brightspace except online class. Be ready to watch youtube online if you cant go to his class
Great introductory algebra course. Boosted my final grade by 2%. Super nice and lectures for this class are available on YouTube which makes review easy. Well structured tutorials with useful problems. Many review questions and exercices posted by Dr. Billig for students. Also, he made past tests available for practice.
The best proof I have ever seen. Nice lectures and a very good marking scheme.Easy marker. Even his TAs are well-trained and prepared. I will highly advise anyone to take any kind of algebra course under his guidance.
Tbh, the homework sets that are given out for each subject is extremely useful for tests. Tests are basically identical to sample tests he assigns. There are no notes posted, so go to lectures, but if you just do homework and sample test, easiest A+. You have to be an actual doorknob to fail the class LOL
Very solid and straight forward linear algebra professor. The homework he gave out was nearly identical to the test and exams making it very easy to score. Only gripe is that he doesn't post his lecture notes, so if you miss class you'll have to look at YouTube videos online.
has learned a lot of things from him even with some theory based application in lecture. But there was no lecture note posted so just make sure take note with his blackboard writing and attend every class. Otherwise, you will miss something important. if you really like exploring math theory, take with him!
Amazing prof, I enjoyed his lectures and they were understandable. Attendance isn't mandatory but he has no lecture slides. His examples tests are VERY similar to his tests. Whatever was in the lectures will appear in tests and exam. He knows what he is doing, even if he gets sidetracked.
Professor Yuly has a straightforward teaching style. Homework closely matches exams, making it easy to score well. No lecture notes shared, so attend class and use unstuck ai for supplementary support. Manageable difficulty with an engaging yet fast-paced course.
Lectures were kinda useless.
Absolutely nothing gets posted to brightspace. If you miss a class, good luck. His posted youtube videos are far too lengthy and go into much more detail than required. Your best bet is just going through the textbook.
He's a really nice and knowledgeable guy. However, he was pretty hard to understand in class. Pretty sure that was just me though. Can learn everything at home.... His tests are exactly what the homework is, so theres absolutely no surprises in this course.
Yuly is such a gem!!!! take his class for amazing explanations and such a good time! i never skipped because his lectures are so interesting, genuinely my favourite prof ever!!!!!!! his lectures are very note heavy, so be prepped for that and make friends incase you miss some, but truly the best course i took this semester!!!!!!!!!! hes the GOAT!!!
This professor posts his own homework, and the tests and final exam are very similar to the hw. The course is fair and not overly difficult. I could understand him well in class, although he sometimes goes a bit fast. He does not post lecture notes and teaches by writing everything on the chalkboard. Overall, a good professor for linear algebra.
- Very good professor. - cares about students and is passionate. - Posts his own homework, tests and exam is very similar to homework. - you're able to understand him during lectures - sometimes goes fast during lectures - does not post notes, and only does them by hand. - teaches linear algebra extremely well. Don't skip class you'll be fine.
Class Info
Online Classes
100%
Attendance Mandatory
58%
Textbook Required
41%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.04 avg changeRatings by Course
1102
5.0
(1)5900
5.0
(1)94204
5.0
(2)LINALGBII
5.0
(1)MATH1005
5.0
(1)Difficulty by Course
69105
5.0
MATH4809
5.0
MATH3106
4.9
MATH2100
4.7
MATH2152
4.6