MATH 2310

Professor Olsen is a very good and thoughtful professor, but DO NOT take his class. He holds office hours twice a week for 2 hours. He makes sure to go slowly and unlike many other professors he does all of his lecturing on a blackboard instead of a powerpoint which I found really helpful. Here is where the class gets unfortunately bad. Here is the grade breakdown for the class: 10% Written HW, 6% Webassign, 20% Quizzes, 20% Midterm 1, 20% Midterm 2, 24% Final. You will have a Webassign, 3 page written homework, and a quiz every Thursday. The written homework and Webassign are not bad and are good practice for the quizzes. The average grade for the quizzes in the class was roughly 75%, the average grade on the first midterm was 70%, the average grade on the second midterm was 75%. I got 85% on quizzes, 83% Midterm 1, 84% Midterm 2, and a 71% on the final (don't know class average on final). THE CLASS WAS NOT CURVED UNLIKE EVERY OTHER MATH 2310 CLASS. Our lowest written homework and quiz were dropped, but thats all. This means the average grade for the class, at least to my knowledge was a C. I barely got a B and I felt I was in the top 25% of the class. If you want to keep a high GPA, do not take this class.

Bill is a great lecturer. Especially when compared to the average math professor at UVA, he does not bog his lectures down with proofs, has great handwriting, and writes everything out in a clear and concise way that translates very well into notes. He is also very kind, and will work to make sure you understand the material. It's also obvious that he is very passionate about Math, and oftentimes that passion is infectious in his lectures. However, his exams and written HWs are very challenging. Be sure to start the Written HW early and make friends in your class, as you'll definitely want to go over your answers (Wolfram Alpha is useful for checking work, but not if you fundamentally misunderstand the problem). You will also want to make sure you know all theorems from lecture and how to apply them to any problem, as you will likely see a new application of said theorems on the exam. While his exams are very challenging, and I often did not get the grade I would've hoped, I'm glad I took the course with Bill. This class made me a much better problem solver and studier, and I learned to think much more like a mathematician throughout the semester. If you don't care to really understand the math and are just taking this course for a pre-req, you're probably better off not taking the course with Bill. Otherwise I highly recommend him.