<p>It seems that most of Math 103 teachers are either
new to school or new teaching 103 (previously taught 107
or sth) and teachers who've taught 103 all have horrible reviews.
I was wondering if teachers are usually better for Spring.</p>
<p>And how much difference would an excellent professor to
a horrible one make?</p>
<p>I don't know about teachers being better in the spring per se, but I will say that the teacher has a large impact. My friend and I both took 103 together, but we were in different classes. Overall, I found my teacher to be excellent, understandable, approachable, knowledgeable, and sympathetic. Almost half of my class got A's as final grades (amazing feat). On the other hand, my friend had a hard time with his class due in large part because he didn't like the teacher and his teaching style (mind you my friend isn't stupid by any measure and was the valedictorian of his HS). So I'd say that the choice of professor really matters.</p>
<p>SBR, who did you have?</p>
<p>I had Ben Cooke, but he left after last year, sorry DeltaRoyale. I was just using that as an example of why I think teaching quality matters.</p>
<p>Edit: I should clarify the "half of class got A's" statement. I knew that the median was very close to the supposed A cutoff on the final exam, and I inferred that it would be logical to assume most people did as well on the final as they usually do, which would mean that many of them got A's or A-.</p>
<p>i whole-heartedly, 100% agree with the fact that a professor MAKES THE CLASS in just about every subject. freshman year its pretty much guess and check, but once youre here, word of mouth will help you out in future semester in terms of picking the right classes. its not like you will be screwed just because you are a freshman....you just might not have the <em>perfect</em> schedule..in which case theres always drop/add!</p>
<p>As I posted in another 103 thread, despite what you see on ratemyprofessor, Hain is actually a very decent professor, and I wouldn't expect to get anyone much better in the Spring.</p>