Reviews of professor Shiva Houshmand

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
I've had Houshmand for 2 classes now. In my opinion, she is one of the best professors in the computer science department. She develops clear, edited, concise lectures about the course material. She creates exam questions that test student's understanding of the subject while both not being too difficult. She is there for you outside of class.

Rating: 1.0/5, difficulty: 2.0/5
She has a thick accent! Beware!

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Houshmand was a really solid prof for cryptography. Clearly explained all the concepts in class. Homeworks were just challenging enough to make you think and understand the concepts but not pull your hair out - easy to get nearly 100% on all. Midterms were similar to homework problems and not too difficult. She's is very caring and lectures well!

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
Honestly, she made the class so confusing, and I know how to code in Java and JS. She has a very unclear grading criteria and will give little / no credit if you get a problem partially right. Has a nice face in class, but when you ask for help or ask her why you got a problem wrong she is a little rude. Beware: she does not give partial credit.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
This was one of my favorite courses I've taken at SCU. The notes are very clear, and the homework is challenging yet it clearly builds off the material learned. The professor's clear expertise in the field drives my motivation to study, and I have learned a lot more in this course than many other courses. I highly recommend this class.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
What a GOAT professor. She makes class actually engaging, and explains difficult material well, so that it is not daunting. She allows for cheat sheets on tests, so no stupid memorization of formulas, and focus is on practical understanding. My fav prof. in the Math/CS department so far. Honestly not enough space to explain how dope she is.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Great professor and she's always there to help you out.

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 3.0/5
Really caring professor - made class very interesting

Rating: 5.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
A tough, but fair professor. She had direct, helpful lectures and had lots of office hours. She was very encouraging and explained well. I'm a poor test taker, as my grade reflects that, but I came out of this class enjoying algorithms, notoriously a boring/hard class. This class helped my problem-solving skills and for that I LOVE SHIVA

Rating: 2.0/5, difficulty: 4.0/5
the tests are sm harder than the review problems or whatever learned in class. you would expect to be prepared but then the test turns out to be 8 pages long filled with problems you've never seen before (which Ik is the point of cs & problem solving but its all really out of the blue). she also is a really tough grader and keeps you blindsighted.