Nikoalev - Math253

[nismodrifter]

anybody had Igor Nikolev(sp?) for math253? he seems to be REALLY slack but I am not sure if his quizzes/tests are going to be hard or not

The quizzes are OPEN BOOK and he even told us what each of the 2 questions on the quiz were going to be about and did an example of each. I have my first quiz coming up and am kind of wondering if this is actually some kind of trick or something hehehe (ie...the quiz will be much harder than he makes them sound like since they are open book and he told us what is going to be on it)

anybody had him for math253 and could tell me if his quizzes/tests actually are what he says they are?? (ie...they are actually easy and the "preview" of the quiz he gives in class is actually what is going to be on it)

thx

[Gainsbarre]

Igor Nikolaev is fairly new to the university -- and this is the first semester that he's ever taught MATH 253. I've never taken a class from him, but there are two reviews/comments from when he taught MATH 251 last semester.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=301529

Reading those ratings makes me wish I had him for calculus instead of this woman

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=208126

(my comment has the * in the left hand column... I was pretty pissed off when I wrote that.)

[nismodrifter]

yeah I just found that out. I checked on infonet last night and couldn't find any student ratings for him for math253 or anything

It's a real big difference from math251 for me where I had killer quizzes and killer midterm/final.

Here is what nikolaev said one class:
"well we started a little bit late today......so we'll leave a little bit early" :rofl:

[Chim]

Nikolaev is awesome. I never did any homework all year, never understood anything that was taught, yet I still pulled a B+ in his class.

A B+ for making up answers on quizzes, tearing a hole in my midterm cuz I was so frustrated with it, and making up over half the answers on the final.

Just make sure you have him as your lab TA and u are set! :thumbsup:

[nismodrifter]

QUIZ TODAY WAS A JOKE

the quiz was almost EXACTLY like the examples he did in class when he told us what would be on it. Same exact type of question just different numbers and one of them had a tan instead of a cos.

The questions that were on the quiz were STRAIGHT out of the textbook and answers are in the back lol (not the work....but you have the answer for it in the back of the textbook to check if you are right). We have solution manuals for the textbooks and those only have solutions for even number questions, so for the quiz he chose an ODD # question which only gives you the answer in the back.....not the work for it (but it was easy as hell anyways)

I would recommend ANYBODY who is going to take math251 or math253 to try and get it with this guy:thumbsup:

I think my lab TA is alright too....just hope he will mark easy :D

[powerslave]

Reading those ratings makes me wish I had him for calculus instead of this woman

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=208126

(my comment has the * in the left hand column... I was pretty pissed off when I wrote that.) [/B]

Heh, I've got math 249 with her right now. Doesn't seem so bad as of now, although she *does* make mistakes on the board and the accent takes some getting used to.
Do you happen to have any of the quizzes still lying around?

[Gainsbarre]

I took MATH 249 from Oliveros-Braniff in Spring 2003, and I'm pretty sure I still have the quizzes..I'll need to check. I did well on them from what I recall, but then again the Israeli guy I had as a TA was a very easy grader.

Oliveros-Braniff is a really bad prof btw. She would make mistakes in EVERY example done on the board, she didn't have any office hours, didn't make any sense, and so on. She actually wrote on the board BACKWARDS once, and it took her several minutes to realize what she was doing. Turns out she's dyslexic or something as well.

[Zero102]

I'm in Nikolaev's 253 class right now, I hope the quiz is as easy as you say it is.
The blue hair has rotted my brain, and I don't understand calculus anymore.

[nismodrifter]

it's DEAD easy man, straight out of the book. the answer is in the back of the book, you just have to do the work to get the answer

do you by chance math class tomorrow morning at 9:30?

[Zero102]

Nope, sorry, mine is afternoon sometime... I think it's at 2:00, but it could be at 12:30.
I always mix it up with philosophy.
I don't have the book, earlier they listed a different one, and my girlfriend had the one they listed, so I didn't buy it. And, from how the course was going, I thought I might get away without it.
I went to Nickelback last night, instead of studying (yeah, but who wouldn't have??), so I just woke up today, and I'm going to look at the examples he gave in class, but I'm hoping for some more help. I am hoping to get a good mark in this class =)

[Zero102]

Hahaha, I wrote the quiz, damn that was easy, one was exactly from the example in class, and the other they changed a cos (or was it sin?) to a tan. LOL.
Boy am I glad I went to the bookstore right before class and got the book. Never even realized I had the right answer until I looked in the book.

[powerslave]

Gainsbarre, did you get my PM? PM me back when you read it.

[nismodrifter]

funniest shit he said in class today:

"dee inteeegral is dee dragon, weee waant to keeel the dragoon, that is too solve it. ok, so today we will be keeling 3 types of dragons.."

keeeeel= kill :D

truly a nice teacher, teaches at a really slow pace and does EVERY step instead of just jumping right to an answer. He shows/explains how he does EVERY step (ie...if he uses an identity to simplify something he will show that he did so and which identity he used). He takes time to answer questions and he does a nice example for each concept so you know how to do the questions.

again, I'd recommend this guy to EVERYBODY taking math251 or 253

[Zero102]

At first I thought his class would be terrible, but I have already learned so much stuff that I didn't understand from 251, that I think if I have the choice, I'd take another class with him.

[nismodrifter]

quizzes and shit will NOT be open book anymore. He got an e-mail from the math head saying that its not right since on the course outline it says "no open book assistance blah blah is allowed"

nikolev then tells us: "does he think that I actually read that course outline, i just copy it from somewhere else and print it" :rofl: :rofl:

and then he says "hrm....he didn't say that there are no formula sheets allowed, so next quiz you can bring your own formula sheet if you want, you can compress anything you need for the quiz on there. And he didn't say anything about computers so even bring a laptop with a cdrom full of information if you really want" BAHHAHHAH :rofl: :rofl:

"make sure you don't write toooo small on your sheet because then you have to bring magnifying lens to read what you wrote" :rofl:

this guy is GREAT!

[Zero102]

I know, I always laugh in his class.
You see that dumbass at the back ask about bringing your own formula sheet?
That was cuz he was too busy yakking it up with his GF and on his cell phone to listen. I am gonna draw on the back of his freaking head if he keeps talking
/Rant

Anyhoo, that guy is hilarious. But in all fairness, his class cleared up SO many things that I didn't understand in 251.

Anybody who writes the quiz on tuesday, could you help the rest of us out with the questions? Perhaps he will re-use the ones from class.

[nismodrifter]

he DOES re-use the ones throughout the whole week (ie..everybody writes the same quiz)

if anybody else here has the quiz on Tuesday then PLZ post up what the questions were

I write the quiz on wednesday btw...

He is probably the greatest math teacher I have ever had, his way of teaching explains ALL the things you need to know to do a problem, he doesn't rush through them

big up to nikolev!!!

:D

[Gainsbarre]

Damn, Nikolaev sounds like a great prof. Too bad what he's doing is probably going to cause him to get passed up for tenure/fired.

[Zero102]

Lol, he will be teaching 253 forever the way he is going.
But honestly, he is one of the best teachers I have ever had, and I really didn't expect it. I really learn something in his class, he answers all the questions you didn't even have yet.
Perhaps I will just write foruma sheet on the front of my textbook for my quiz. Think it will fly?

[nismodrifter]

anybody had the quiz yet this week? post up what the questions were if yuo have had it already (everybody writes the same exact quiz regardless of lab section..)......

[Zero102]

Hey, hasn't somebody out there written the quiz and feels like helping us out??

[nismodrifter]

ah shit man, I totally forgot to post them up for you :(

I have quizzes on wednesdays...

maybe we can work somethin out to help each other with quizzes/midterms :D

check your PM

btw...I write quizzes on wednesdays, if anybody else has the quizzes on Monday/Tuesday and could get me the questions then plz send me a pm. Also, if you write the quiz on Thurs. or Friday then send me a pm and I'll give you the quiz questions....

[nismodrifter]

BAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHA

Just had my midterm right now............

last class, he told us basically what would be on the midterm and did an example of each question (ie..#1 will be this kind of question...here's an example of it....)

I open the midterm and its THE EXACT SAME SHIT ALMOST HAHAHA. He changed a tan to a cot which made the ansewr flip upside down, in another question he changed a + to a - which made two numbers switch around, he changed a 4 to a 2 in another question. There was 2 different questions that I had trouble with...and I couldn't get a right answer...so i started freaking out since one of them was out of 10 marks....

and then the greatest thing happens.....

5 mins left...Nikolev walks up to the board....starts writing "SLIP YOUR PAPER UNDER DOOR MS442 BEFORE..." then he stops and thinks for a second..." NOON" I almost strated laughing out loud ahahhah

so I leave clas....midterm still in my hand....whip out the text book and one of the questions I had trouble with was done as an example in the text...so i copied that one out, found a friend and then worked on the other one and got it right.....

Can you say 100% ahahhah

zero102: check your PM

[Zero102]

LMAO, I didn't know that's how he did it for you guys.
Damn.
He just wrote the integral of that last one on the board for us, said too many people complained it was too hard.
I think I almost nailed it, just #2 gave me some trouble, had a brain fart, couldn't quite solve it. I knew the answer, but I couldn't explain how to get there.

[nismodrifter]

he wrote it on the board???? lol, that question WAS too hard for the level of shit that he has been teaching us :D

hope the info I gave you helped you out:thumbsup:

[7thgenvic]

hahahahahah the guy is the fucking best!!! i have him tues/thur at 12:30, anyone in that class! he's a fucking great guy, i got 100% on the final last semester!!!

jUST GRAVy

[Zero102]

I'm in that class.
I'm the weirdo with the blueish/green hair (it was blue, just faded).
You'll see me at the back all the time.


Nismo, yeah, it really helped out, I am feelin pretty good about the test =)

[nismodrifter]

zero, I think I seen you around, I think you wrote your physics test like 2 seats away from me (I was the brown guy next to the wall.....lol, not much help in recognizing me but whatever) bunch of my friends are in the 12:30 class....but they usually come to the early one

hope he will hand them back tomorrow, I could use a boost after a hard week :)

[7thgenvic]

no shit, math 253 is a easy A, everything else right now is a bit iffy! im really not looking forwards to my stats midterm next week, i fucking hate the ol' bitch

[nismodrifter]

he handed the midterms back today....30/30 for me :D

other people got a few things wrong (like the whole last question which was out of 10.....) and they still managed to get a 28/30 ahha

[Gondi Stylez]

fuck im gonna get him for 251! does he teach that?! or even 249?

[7thgenvic]

he teaches both, but im wondering how long he will be able to stay!
hahah

[Zero102]

I think he's been there for 2 years. Looks like the math department doesn't hate him too much.

Nismodrifter, I think I remember you... took me a while to remember where I wrote physics, lol.

I got 28/30, but I didn't even finish #2. Just wrote down a bunch of crap. He put a question mark on it. haha.

[Chim]

Hehe is it just me or does Nikolaev look like sting?

[nismodrifter]

hahahaha he kind of does I guess lol

[Zero102]

Hmm... I spend all my time trying to understand what he says!
haven't thought about that.

[Skyline_Addict]

nikolaev is easy.
had him for 251.
if u took math 31 in hs, u probably won't need to go to every class.
maybe every other, just to see where they are.
not that..I..did..that..or..anything... =)
quizzes are sinch...just make sure u know exactly what's on the mt and final, and that's an A right there.

[Zero102]

The final is the only one that has me worried, no formula sheets! lol.
Is he out sick or something? Had some other guy thursday, he was even harder to understand than nikolaev.

[nismodrifter]

yeh hes not here this week (he was here for tuesday only..), I think he said that you can bring in formula sheets into the final too, like he is going to give a shit even if you bring one in (even bring a damn full page cheat sheet in and he won't care)

[Chim]

I had Nikolaev last semester. He was handing out formula sheets for kids that didnt bring any, and he didn't have enough. So he said "OK guys you are allowed to share!"
:rofl:

[nismodrifter]

BAHHAHAHAH

are the final exam questions like EXACTLY what he tells they will be in class???

as said, for our midterm he put the exact same questions onto our midterm as the examples he did in the class before the midterm. All he did was like change a + to a - or something simple like that

does he do the same shit for the final?

[Zero102]

I think he would get in shit for that, but it would be kick-ass if he did.
The finals are done by the registrar's office (Technically), so it's over his head. But I sure wouldn't object! So far I'm looking at an A in calculus, never gotten that before!

[nismodrifter]

alright guys...final is approaching and he has given us the sample test with answers on the internet

can anybody who has had him previously tell us if the stuff he posts on the internet/sample exams is EXACTLY what is on the test????? (Chim...?? anybody else?)

His quizzes near the end of the term got harder and harder and right now I am sitin at like a 88-90 percent in the class I think. Since he made his shit progressively harder after the midterm I am worried that his final will be hard

I only want to study what I REALLY need to and hopefully it will end up being the exact same stuff as on this sample test he gave us

any help is appreciated

[nismodrifter]

alright not sure if any of you guys in 253 will read this threaad before the exam tomorrow morning but did you guys fiind the practise questions on that sample exam to be a TON harder than shit he did in class??? like for those differential equations questions he only taught us how to do basic simple ones....the ones on the test are WAY harder than ANYTHING he ever did in class.

I'm getting worried now.....

[Chim]

Well I heard he got busted for being so easy going so he might've made his curriculum harder

But mine was 70% of the stuff he did in class, and 30% on integration

[nismodrifter]

yeah I know that he got busted for lettin us use open textbooks on quizzes......after the first quiz we were only allowed to use cheat sheets and notes instead LOL

The quizzes did get harder after the first one....but the midterm was easy as shit (as i said previously it was exactly the stuff he told us would be on it with a + switched to a - here and there)

I am praying tonight that the final is made by HIM.....not some other f00l :D go ig0r1!!!

[Akagi Redsuns]

As nice as it is to have an easy ride, I do have to question this prof's teaching methods. Giving almost exact examples on the questions that will appear on a test beforhand? I hope you guys are actually learning the concepts and topics and not just how to answer a specific question.

One of my classes were like that, open text and everything on assignments and quizes, even the midterm. Everyone went into the final with like 95% average. The class average on the final was something like 28%. He used questions we have never seen and having the notes and textbooks didn't help one bit. What a stupid class, got a 38% on the final and ended up with a B+ overall.

[5abi]

so how wuz the final??

ez A with nikolev?

[nismodrifter]

nope...you gotta definately study hard for the final, his midterms and quizzes are a joke but you HAVE to study quite a bit for the final if you want an A

definately take him sinceu your quiz and midterm are easier, you'll have an A+ going into the final....do good on the final and you'll manage an A in the class

[5abi]

thnx man