James Wang - Pennsylvania State University

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James Wang - Pennsylvania State University

Professor: James Wang

Department: Computer Science

College: Pennsylvania State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

Course: DS340W
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

There is a TON of reading in this class, so just be prepared for that. Dr. Wang seems cool, but unfortunately most of the course is student presentations, so you don't get to actually hear much from him except at the start. Grading criteria for big projects isn't particularly clear which is a challenge. Generally nice guy, just a hard class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

Course: IST402
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Wang loves to share what he loves. His enthusiasm in teaching is inspirational. I love how he tries to motivate students to learn more. Definitely not the easiest course since the material is quite hard. However, very manageable.

Rating # 3

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: B+
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

James' class was a pain. 40% of the grade for the class was a project which can seem impossible at sometimes. The material he teaches is very dense. It was the most I have ever worked outside of class. With all that being said, James is a genius. Go to class, do the reading, and office hours and you will have a huge leg up against others in IST.

Rating # 4

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The GOAT.

Rating # 5

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Great professor. Knows what he's talking about it and teaches you through real world experience. Very hard class, but it's worth it in the long run.

Rating # 6

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: A-
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Wang is not the best at teaching but he will answer any question you have. He will push you more than other professors. Hard work, but you learn a ton by the end of the course. Exams are worth a lot, very hard but curved. Project requires a lot of work but you will be very proud when it's over. Great to talk about/ show to interviewers.

Rating # 7

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: No
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Classes consist of long, boring lectures, during which he reads off the slides in monotone. Homework and exams are much harder than material covered in lectures. If you have to take this class with him, be prepared to hear him brag about how he went to Stanford. If you get a question wrong, you will lose more points than the question alone is worth

Rating # 8

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: A+
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: Yes
Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I personally loved the class; I first hated it but now love it. I've never taken any SQL, PHP, not even HTML coding before in my life, but I still survived. This class is definitely one of classes where you are treated as "a college student." After this class, you will at least be master at SQL in many ways. Keep up with his textbook otherwise fail

Rating # 9

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Avoid at all costs. The way the class is set up puts you at a severe disadvantage to receive a good grade. Wang is not helpful whatsoever, couldn't teach a class to save his life. Are you a good test taker? You better be.

Rating # 10

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Whatever you do don't take this professor! If there are any other professors for IST 230 take them and not Wang. He reads off slides and hopes everyone understands but they don't. Everyone is failing currently except a couple students

Rating # 11

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: B-
Overall Rating: 2.5
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

His lectures are straight out of the textbook so it doesn't give you much perspective on the subject. I don't even know if he understood his own material well enough to explain it in his own words. You can give easy examples to match the scenario but those examples will NOT BE ON THE TEST. You will get the toughest ones.

Rating # 12

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: A-
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: Yes
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

3 exams, 3 labs that's it. The labs are left to the TA and you learn them the day of, so pray you get a good one. The exams are 90% of your grade and the class average is less than 50. He'll never through anything with you or helps but instead keeps telling you to work harder. He curves the course but only at the end, so you have to wait to know.

Rating # 13

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The class was incredibly hard, but IST students are notorious for their lack of effort outside the classroom and therefore I know personally with more effort I could have done much better. There was a huge curve applied (a 75% became an A). He definitely knows what he's doing, but I think the blame rests more on the students for the struggling.

Rating # 14

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 4.5
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Many students complain that this course is difficult with Wang. He gives hard quizzes and tests, yes. If you aren't lazy and bother to do the work, it's an extremely rewarding experience to be his student. Also, he will teach you anything in his field during his office hours if you take advantage of it. Great professor.

Rating # 15

Overview:

Course: IST230
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

CLASS IS REALLY HARD. You have to put in extreme amounts of work. You use the book a lot for 7 homework assignments. Lectures are extremely boring and he literally has POP quizzes which are really hard and are only 10 minutes. He doesnt make much sense of things. Try to avoid if not, suffer.

Rating # 16

Overview:

Course: IST590
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I took his IST590 and IST562. His courses are not student-friendly. He demands a lot from you as he IS the boss. As graduate courses, I know it is acceptable. However, himself devotes very very little efforts in the course. I dont like this type of teacher and will avoid his courses in the future.

Rating # 17

Overview:

Course: IST402
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Wang is awful. Avoid at all costs. He does nothing but gloat about his image search engines and then expects you to re-create one for your end of the semester project. Only 2 groups in the whole class actually got it to work. This class was the worst I have had in 4 years of IST. Not a good way to end out my senior year. DO NOT TAKE!

Rating # 18

Overview:

Course: IST402
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 2.5
Course Difficulty: 4.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Wang is very egotistical. No matter which class you have, you get to hear about his 10-year-old pet project ALIPR. In fact, most of the class will be based on image recognition only. Even in Emerging Technologies. We wasted at least 4 weeks on this. He says "this isn't IST210 again", but it is. Dismissive; doesn't care about his students. Avoid.

Rating # 19

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: Yes
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Wang is horrible. Does not help at all. Expects you to learn PHP on your own and his tests are really really hard. AVOID HIM!

Rating # 20

Overview:

Course: IST210
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 5.0

For Credit: N/A
Textbook Used: No
Would Take Again: N/A
Attendance: N/A

Comment:

DO NOT TAKE this class with Wang! I switched into his class because my friends were taking it... worst mistake ever. I have NEVER worked so hard in my life to attempt to pass. The final project is worth a lot of your grade and it has to be in PHP... which he doesn't teach you. The exams are brutal too - almost everyone fails.

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