Reviews of professor Nadejda Drenska

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I do not recommend taking this lecture.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
Avoid her at all costs. Her "lectures" are more like research directions, youre coming just to see what you have to learn by yourself. Will spend a whole day in one question, do it wrong then just give you the asnwer and move on. Also against study guides, and even if she makes one she only includes what wont be on the test.

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Drenska simply doesn't teach. She just writes down the example and doesn't explain anything. Having a really good T.A. is important and reading the book is necessary. The tests are fair and really didn't get too challenging till the last chapter. Do lots of practice problems out of the book.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Lectures are entirely from the book, lectures aren't generally very helpful. TAs are much more helpful and capable of explaining the material in useful ways.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
This class was poorly built. Professor is not good at answering questions. Most of her answers leave you more confused than where started. The class is mostly teaching yourself and the lectures don't help at all. Midterms are fairly difficult and weekly quizzes are hit or miss. Get a good TA to pass.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Professor Drenska's lectures were essentially pointless. You couldn't read her notes either because of her messy penmanship, her hair covering the sheet, or her inability to center the paper under the document camera. Her notes were straight from the book. You learn more from your TA than her.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
I appreciate Professor Drenska's willingness to try and be a better professor, but I have a really hard time trying to understand the topic she's teaching. Everything makes sense in discussion, but once lecture hits I get confused again. Better off teaching myself.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 5.0/5
I do not recommend her at all

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
This was Drenska's first semester teaching so the first couple weeks were rough because she was still trying to figure out her style, but she's probably the most open to feedback of any professor I've met. Show up to lecture, do the homework, review the examples she shows, and you'll be fine. Bonus: she's a nice person once you get to know her :)

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
She had semester-long issues with classroom technology. Lectures can be replaced by reading the book. There is weekly homework from the book (answers in the back) with a few required problems and more optional problems. You'll be fine if you do all the homework. There were weekly quizzes, 3 midterms, and a final.

Rating: 4.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
She lectures using examples from the textbook so if reading through the textbook is enough for you, there is no reason to go, but she will answer questions during lectures and the midterms/finals are very fair.