APMA 2120

Prof Ryals is just a plain good professor - nothing overtly bad about her, and she gives you enough resources to excel in her class. She seems pretty enthusiastic about math, and that definitely helps the mood in class. Her classes consist of around 30-45 minutes of lecturing and 5-15 minutes of graded groupwork with the 2-3 people sitting next to you (assigned seats that mix up every midterm). She lectures with fill-in-the-blank notes that are available for you to print out, but I didn't and just took notes in my notebook and it still worked out well. One problem I had with her is that she never posted completed notes online, so I had to ask a friend to send their notes when I had to miss class.

Homework assignments are on WebAssign for every chapter, and for every midterm there is a longer and much more in-depth homework assignment that makes you think more critically with the covered topics. Make sure to at least try a couple problems on WebAssign for the section covered the day of the class, as that was what really solidified my knowledge. The tests weren't terrible, but some of my classmates struggled with them.

Overall, Calculus 3 is just Calc 2 except in 3D, and it's relatively easy as long as you have a decent foundation in Calc 2. It gets a little hard in the end, but it was definitely not that hard of a class.

APMA 2120 is a scuffed course for everyone, but Megan Ryals goes out of her way to make life horrible for you. We had a graded pre-class on a topic we had not learned yet (expected to just google it and figure it out) which was 5% of our grade, Additionally, we were assigned in-class worksheets in the last 10 minutes of class and expected to finish them in those ten minutes, even though we had just learned the content (15% of your grade btw). Outside of those, we had extended assignments every two weeks that were impossible to complete without instructor help during office hours (not allowed to work with other people for this assignment btw).
She also doesn't know how to lecture effectively, she'll just simply read off the notes without going into depth. If you go to office hours for clarity she'll just redirect you to a textbook and tell you to read from there. Overall, this course is a lot of work and you need to take it with an effective professor, not Megan Ryals

Most people said that multi was easier than calc 2. Personally I found multi to be more difficult. I did not think Ryals was a particularly good or bad professor but she got the job done. She did have less homework assignments than other professors and was always willing to help students either after class or during office hours. There were 5 tests (4 "midterms" and a final) which made it seem like we were constantly having tests but I guess it also meant there was less content on each test making it easier to study. I found tests 1 and 4 the most difficult. Many students do not attend lecture but I recommend going because that is when she goes over nearly all of the content... even if it means waking up early. She also did not post completed notes from class only blank copies.
#tCFS24

Prof Ryals is a pretty average teacher, she's not bad but not amazing. Class time is mostly made up of guided notes and group work (assigned groups and the work is graded on accuracy). While the teaching style is average (and sometimes unhelpful), the WebAssign homework provides substantial practice and definitely makes me feel more comfortable with the content. The reason why I think her lectures are unhelpful is because she proves things in a really weird way and sometimes leaves us more confused. We also have to do pre-class assignments which are just worksheets due before class, they're usually pretty easy but at least for our section, the preclass is ahead of what we learn so sometimes you will be doing problems that you have yet to learn about. The tests, one for each unit, generally consist of problems much easier than the Webassigns and she gives practice problems (a little harder than test questions). Overall, the class isn't too bad as long as you stay ahead of your homework and go to class.
#tCFF24

If you can avoid taking this class with Ryals, I suggest taking it with someone else. She's a nice person and is willing to help during office hours, my main problem with her class is the disconnect between how she teaches and her tests. I would study and look at class notes and do all the things to prepare, and then I'd get to the tests and the questions would be so different than what we had previously done in class. I started reading the textbook and completely ignoring her notes when studying because to me they just weren't helpful. She had us watch videos before class except they were so disorganized and I never knew what order to watch them in. She also just wasn't very thoughtful about the timing of assignments (and I know multi has a lot of content to get through), but I emailed her for an extension on an extended assignment because we had 3 WebAssigns, an extended assignment, and a midterm all within the 3 days, and when she emailed me back she said she just "didn't realize" she had made these things due all at the same time. Overall, her class is frustrating even though she herself is a pretty nice person.

I think that the reviews for this class are far too low. I believe overall Professor Ryals is a good professor. While Professor Hellings will overtly tell students what type of questions will be on the exam Professor Ryals does not, however it is still possible to excel in her class. The preclass assignments take less than ten minutes every time, and the in-class assignments are a pain because you can't miss too many classes, however she is very understanding and will drop some at the end. As long as you watch the videos given to you and stay on top of your assignments, this class is incredibly manageable and I recommend taking it with Professor Ryals.