MATH 3351

I literally hate this class so much.

Bergner gives you a ridiculous amount of busy work, which teaches you nothing.

You have pre-quizzes due before each lecture MWF, and online homework due midnight MWF. Then you have written homework due every Wednesday, video responses due every Friday, a group project, responses for other groups' projects. The crazy thing is, all this only makes 30% of your grade.

The other 70% is comprised of your midterm and final grades.

The graders and Bergner herself are also extremely anal in grading, often taking 25-50% of points off on homework and tests off for "not explaining enough" or not showing all steps or starting from a specific equation. She's also mentioned multiple times how she will dock points off your homework if you forget to rip the notebook perforations off your paper, and got angry when someone referred to the page of notes you get in an exam as a "cheat sheet" then went off on how the "cheat sheet" goes against the honor code and instead, we should call it an "instructor permitted sheet of notes."

She is very particular about the way things are done. And I think that turns a lot of people off. However, in my experience she really cares about students' learning. She is tough, but she's not out to get you. It is a TON of work, but it's also a 3000 level math class that is fundamental to a lot of other courses. Linear Algebra pops up in many different other subjects, so I'm glad that I have a good understanding of it. Also, I'm bad at studying for math, so I think it is helpful to have a lot of small assignments along the way to force me to keep up with the material. You are forced to study a little bit every day. The online homework is super easy (you have unlimited attempts), but can be very tedious. The written homework is graded very harshly, but it's only worth 5% of your grade. I found the projects interesting. They helped me understand how linear algebra is used in real life. I also liked seeing other people's projects, but it was just a lot to write about. My advice if you take this class with her is to get ahead and do all the video responses early, because most people waited till the end, and it was a lot of work to do at the end of the semester. Also, this was her first time teaching this class, so she will probably make improvements in the following semesters.