Micaela Serra - University of Victoria

Professor: Micaela Serra
Department: Computer Science
College: University of Victoria
Rating # 1
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I am a graduate who has been working for a few years, and this was one of the most useful courses I took to prepare me for my career. The assignments are tough, and the final was brutal, but the information is important to know. If you are having trouble with parts of it, go see her in her office hours. She is really good at explaining one-on-one.
Rating # 2
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: Yes
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: Yes
  • Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
She is best professor I ever met
Rating # 3
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
I have graduated from computer science and honestly, I Learned nothing from her. Her assignments are long and full of words that explains not important stuff. To much. Avoid if you can.
Rating # 4
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Micaela was wonderful. Comes across harsh and very strict in class, but do yourself a favour and go to her office hours. I loved her. The course was tough for sure, assignments are very long and hard and the final was brutal, but put in the work and let her see you working hard and she's a lamb.
Rating # 5
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
After seeing how high her rating is I am now skeptical about the accuracy of ratemyprofessors. Not good at explaining at all, impossible to learn from.
Rating # 6
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Great lecturer, but gave so much information. I suggest really paying attention and taking your own condensed notes so you don't have to read a wall of text to study. Also, mimic in-class examples on assignments and study them in-depth for tests because they're really quirky. The programming can be daunting, too, but just keep hacking away at it.
Rating # 7
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Assignments are crazy long and difficult to understand, often forces you to make assumptions about how to structure code, then grading dings you for assumptions you made. Very frustrating. Exam was the strangest one I have ever written, similar to assignments in clarity. Good in lecture, that is all.
Rating # 8
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Good in lecture and helpful in office hours. Assignment specs are often unclear due to information overload. Workload is average.
Rating # 9
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
Funny and engaging, an excellent choice for taking 230. Definitely one of the better cs teachers at uvic.
Rating # 10
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Micaela taught me an insanely boring class, so it's not really fair to call her boring - but the class was unbearable. She sounds like a character from South Park, which keeps things interesting. That and the odd in-class Naxx raid with my row kept things interesting. Super helpful if you go to her office hours. The class will be hard if you don't.
Rating # 11
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
The assignment specs were 20-30 pages long and if you failed to follow them EXACTLY, she'd dock you 10 percent for every tiny thing you missed. The midterm was really difficult. The lectures were very boring, and being at 4:30 sure didn't help. The lecture slides are impossible to learn from. I'm going to fail the final. AVOID IF YOU ENJOY SANITY!
Rating # 12
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
Micaela made the subject interesting. She is a very clear speaker and quite funny. Tests were extremely fair (many questions from older exams).
Rating # 13
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Lectures are about as fun and interesting as the course allows. Has a good sense of humour and really tries to make sure students learn the material. Assignments were quite a bit of work, but very educational and her specifications were very clear. She's been out of the industry too long though, and occasionally presents old information as current.
Rating # 14
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
She places emphasis on students actually learning the course material, rather than on passing exams. She's tough but fair with a great sense of humor.
Rating # 15
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Loves to go off on a tangent during her lectures and ends up talking about random stuff for a goof 15 minutes. She tries to keep the class interesting. Her assignments are long but are interesting. She is helpfull during office hours. Final was pretty long and tough.
Rating # 16
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 3.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
A very funny teacher, tries her best to make a rather dry subject interesting. Good prof overall, however her muddled assignment specifications are hard to follow and at times unnecessarily stretched out.
Rating # 17
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.5
  • Course Difficulty: 3.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: No
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Great teacher. Very funny. Uses analogies effectively to teach difficult subject matter. My only complaint is that there were limited resources to study from. The textbook (Computer Organization, 5th ed.) was useless to me; it barely covers the material in the course.
Rating # 18
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • 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:
Killer course. Lots of work (double the effort of other CS courses), BUT Dr. Serra is great teacher and she will help you if you try. Do the work and get an A.
Rating # 19
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 4.0
  • Course Difficulty: 4.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: Yes
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Dr. Serra had two sides. In lectures, she could be absolutely hilarious. She was helpful when you talked to her and concerned that the students do well. On the other hand, she could be really condescending about how the class did on assignments and midterms. Not enough office hours. Not always organized. Expects perfection from beginners.
Rating # 20
Overview:
  • Course: CSC230
  • Grade Received: N/A
  • Overall Rating: 5.0
  • Course Difficulty: 2.0
  • For Credit: N/A
  • Textbook Used: N/A
  • Would Take Again: N/A
  • Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Great prof, she knows what she is talking about and lectures can be quite entertaining. She is very helpful in office hours and is very concerned that you pass with a good grade as long as you put the effort in. Assignments were reasonable, I would definitely recommend her for this course.
Add Your Review Below:
Search Professors:
Welcome:

Before signing up for classes every students should gather as much information as possible to make a decision on which professors as well as which courses to take. This website will help you make this decision easier.

Here, the students can rate, research and cross-reference the overall performances of the professors to select the best ones, and always be informed and up-to-date with what’s important.

Join the fun! Visit all pages and get all the information you need to choose the best class and best professor that you’ll enjoy listening to and learning from.

Our Friendly Sponsor:
Schools:
Our Friendly Sponsor:


Celebrity Net Worth Visa Bulletin