Reviews of professor Maaike Helmus

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Although Maaike is very accessible and caring about her students, the exams had questions regarding things we never studied in lecture or the textbook, which I find quite unfair. I am a 3rd year student who is used to writing, and the marking for the term paper was harsh for no reason. I would probably try another prof just in case.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Seriously cannot stand this prof. She is always talking about her malnourished cats and her exams suck. I am not the type of student to expect a good grade without work, But this prof ruins the atmosphere and doesn't encourage learning. She is not engaged in teaching, and is quite odd, to say the least. I will never ever take a class w her again

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Maaike is awesome! She provides interesting examples in her lectures that make even boring concepts more memorable. She also made it easy to get 2% extra credit. The exams were fair- she provided practice exam questions which are helpful to know what to study, especially since some of the practice questions ended up being on the exams.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
The lectures were very long and somewhat confusing. Thankfully the midterm and final were online so we could use our notes. If the tests were not online I think 80% of the class would have failed. The tests were still hard online. Make sure you do a good job on the asingments as this will be what boosts your grade.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Take this class! I took Prof Helmus and she was amazing. Statistics isn't my favourite topic but the way this class was taught made me actually enjoy it. She provided engaging, in-depth lectures and the assignments really helped me understand how to apply what we learned. Also, her BTVS themed examples during class made me rewatch the show!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Maaike is very good at explaining tough statistical concepts and making them easy to understand. Her exams and assignments are fair. I wish I took this class before STAT 203. She is awesome, CRIM 320 isn't an easy course by any means, but with her clear instructions and lectures, you can do amazing if you put in the work.

Rating: 3.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Lectures are straight forward. She also answers questions frequently, but the tests are quite tricky especially for the long-answer questions. It is very hard to get a decent mark in tests as she doesn't give a clear expectation. There is a rubric for the term paper but the TA can make you lose many marks without any reason

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Well... Prof Helmus has been a nightmare for Crim318. Super disorganized, she had 2 guest speakers who contradicted her slide contents mid-lecture. She never respected a deadline and submitted the grades for the first paper 5 weeks later (this delayed the paper 2 deadline... overlapping with final exams), super disorganized course. regret taking it