Abigail Thompson - University of California Davis

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Abigail Thompson - University of California Davis

Professor: Abigail Thompson

Department: Mathematics

College: University of California Davis

Rating # 1

Overview:

Course: MAT16A
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Thompson was an outstanding math professor. She's a great lecturer and a very charming lady. Tests were difficult and didn't reflect the content as much as I would have liked, however the curve was fair. Take serious time to study for each of the midterms or you'll do very poorly.

Rating # 2

Overview:

Course: MAT16A
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Three midterms, the lowest one is dropped; homework is assigned after each class, the lowest three are dropped; 5% of your grade is just for participating. She is a good teacher and great with questions, but sometimes distracted in lectures. I ended with an 86 (A), always check your grades to make sure they line up -- I had more than a few issues

Rating # 3

Overview:

Course: MAT16A
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Abby is a decent lecturer. She tends to veer away from course material sometimes. Midterms were fair, except hw didn't prepare for it. Midterms were 50% of grade (dropped the lowest), hw was 20% (lowest 3 dropped) and the final was 30%. Overall really understanding professor!

Rating # 4

Overview:

Course: MAT16A
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She gave really clear lectures with lots of examples. The midterms were not that difficult and the grading was fair, lowest one dropped. There is lots of homework but lowest 3 get dropped and they help solidify understanding. Honestly if you just practice, you should pass easily. Loved her little sea slug show-and-tell at the start of every class!

Rating # 5

Overview:

Course: MAT16A
Grade Received: Not sure yet
Overall Rating: 1.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Do not recommend at all. She finds it very hard to clear doubts and explain concepts in different ways. She jumps concepts and moves very quickly and she assigned SO MUCH HW. Doesn't curve or grade well either, do not take her.

Rating # 6

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: C-
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She tries the best she can to simplify the concepts. Concepts are hard and not intuitive but I'm sure she does her best. 3 midterms and drops the lowest. grade given by 70% midterms + 30% hw. Homework is doable but exams are pretty hard. She gives very generous curve at the end and is caring and compassionate to students that struggle.

Rating # 7

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: A+
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Thompson was an exceptional lecturer and helped drive home the intuition behind important problems and theorems. She truly cared about students and was super understanding. 3 non-cumulative midterms and no final. Lowest midterm and 2 hws dropped. I didn't think I was that great at combinatorics and graph theory, but I ended up doing really well :)

Rating # 8

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Abby is simply the best thing to happen to the Math department! A real gem. She's very caring and her lectures are inspiring. She would come up with the best explanations and everyone would be able to understand. Workload is the usual: Homework, 2 Midterms, and a Final! A generous curve in the end as well.

Rating # 9

Overview:

Course: MAT21AB
Grade Received: C
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I have finished up to 21d and she is the worst 21 prof I've had. Her lectures only confused me more after I had grasped a topic. I would read the textbook, know how to do all of the HW, Quizzes and other examples in the textbook and her midterm questions still made no sense and had really odd curveballs in them. Luckily she curves. AVOID HER

Rating # 10

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: A-
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

21B is a hard class, harder than 21C imo. Abigail is an amazing person, and I enjoyed her class structure with the weekly quiz and the two grading methods, but her tests tended to be rather unfair and tbh her lectures did nothing for me. Here's my tip: take kouba if u can, and use a math book. Most books are really good for 21b, I recommend Stewart

Rating # 11

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: C
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

21B is not an easy class, but she has a nice curve. Her tests are fair. She is extremely helpful and nice during office hours. My only real complaint about this class was the quizzes, they didn't always match up with the homework

Rating # 12

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I really liked the way she taught. The average on her first and second midterm was pretty low, but she made up for it with a very fair final and a nice curve at the end. Overall, I would say this class is not easy by any means, but professor Thompson does care about your success.

Rating # 13

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: A-
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Her test is not that difficult if you understand the homework problem and samples on the textbook. She has two different methods to grade you and this gives you more oppotunity to gain higher grade. Since she sometimes do not ask you to solve the problem after setting up the correct equation, many problems turn easier if you understand theory.

Rating # 14

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I received an A in 21b, but struggled to pass this class. Fell behind, and we didn't cover everything we were supposed to. Her tests are the WORST. You'll learn how to solve a problem one way, but then you're given completely context and information for the tests that you're expected to know how to solve. I learned primarily from examples on hw.

Rating # 15

Overview:

Course: MAT21B
Grade Received: C
Overall Rating: 2.0
Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly, This class and prof. made me really question my passion for math. The content was fine. However, the teaching was not very clear. Halfway through a problem, Prof. Thompson will often shuffle through her notes to grasp what she's doing or just leave problems hanging saying "you all know how to do this." I did most of my studying on Youtube

Rating # 16

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 4.5
Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Really liked her lectures - thought they were really entertaining for math. The quizzes were really easy if you did the homework. She picks one question straight from the homework for the quiz. Exams were doable if you understand the concepts fairly well. Best math class I had in my college career.

Rating # 17

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 4.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She is very nice and you can tell that she genuinely wants to get her students interested in the subject material. I sometimes found her lectures to be boring because she spent a lot of time on easy concepts and then would speed through harder concepts. The exams are easy, though.

Rating # 18

Overview:

Course: MAT145
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Professor Abby is quite a casual professor and keeps the class interesting. Tests are pretty easy if you did the homework and understand the concepts. Her grading style is also very nice. Don't hesitate to ask for regrades.

Rating # 19

Overview:

Course: MATH145
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 5.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Very nice teacher. Very helpful. Loved her lectures, and her tests are very doable. I would recommend her. :)

Rating # 20

Overview:

Course: MAT141
Grade Received: N/A
Overall Rating: 3.0
Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She explains things pretty well. Exams are pretty easy. The class was fun. Generous grader. Her style of teaching isn't really what I prefer, but overall I still learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

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