APMA 2130

Space Bob is the best professor that I have had at UVA, and I won't be surprised if I continue to say this until I graduate. He is excellent at communicating the material clearly in class. His powerpoints (he always publishes them on Collab) are sometimes convoluted, but if you go to class you will definitely understand him/them. This seems to be his way of making class attendance mandatory. He is also really lowkey funny so I always found myself paying attention in this class. This reflected in the test grades--we averaged close to a 90 on every single test, even the ones that he told us to study extra hard for. The homework required a good amount of time, but the automatic feedback from Webwork is extremely helpful, so I always felt like the homework contributed to my knowledge of the material. That was pretty much the only amount of required work you had to do for the class. Studying for weekly quizzes usually required about an hour of studying as well. Due to everyone having decent grades, he did not curve at all but I'm sure most people didn't need it. 10/10 would recommend.
P.S.: He also picked a great TA!! She was extremely helpful and actually ran the discussions (which always included a quiz so you wouldn't be tempted to skip). She was always open to being emailed with questions.
P.P.S.: This class cost me $0 (besides tuition obviously)! Webwork is free and there was no required textbook! Free classes are always a plus in my book.

Great prof. Funny and engaging and the only things he brings to class is a NASA coffee mug and a long stick.

I realize that this review will be somewhat subjective, but I really didn't like this class. I took this course spring semester of my first year immediately after taking calculus 3 and thought it was quite difficult in a much different way than calculus 3 was difficult, due to the over-reliance on algorithmic thinking, rather than visualization. Despite my unfamiliarity with the course material, I feel like I would have learned it more thoroughly if I had a different professor. Space Bob, as he is known by, came across as a little sporadic and had the habit of striking his stick against the front desk of the lecture hall. This, coupled with his quiet voice and his disorganized lecture slides, was successful in distracting me to the point of frustration, leading me to take notes off of Prof. Fulgham's slides outside of class in order to truly "get it". Although his quizzes and tests were relatively straightforward, the final (written by Julia Spencer I believe) was a lot harder and more theoretical. My grade tanked at the end because I performed so poorly on that thing. If I were to take this class again, I would take complex variables and linear algebra first, because this class draws fundamental concepts from both classes, including complex roots and eigenvalues.

I LOVE SPACE BOB! HE is very funny and will make fun of you for yawning but it's all part of his personality. We stan

Great professor. Grade comes so you don't have to worry about it. Class is engaging and you really learn the material. Class with space bob isn't really difficult

Professor Johnson, aka Spacebob, is one of my favorite Professors at UVA. I came into Diff Eq worried what this class had in store as it was known to be a difficult APMA course. After a few classes with Professor Johnson, he made this class very enjoyable to the point that it was my favorite class I was taking this past semester. He posts the lectures, which are very useful for looking over concepts and worked out problems. There are also weekly WWs and quizzes which are not difficult, but you must keep up with them to understand the material, particularly in the latter half of the course. I recommend doing the WW in groups because you can learn from each other on concepts you are rusty on and finish the WWs quicker (through personal experience). One thing Professor Johnson does I noticed compared to other professors, is he addresses potential issues students may have in the WW problems/concepts while reviewing for exams and clarifies them through emails, which really helped me and a bunch of students a lot. Once again, those emails come as a result of going to office hours, which I highly recommend going to any time you have a doubt. He's beyond willing to work around with your schedule as well if you cannot go to office hours. As for tests, they are not super theoretical or anything but simply test if you can solve differential equations. And he gives you an 1 hour 30 min - 1 hour 45 min on each of them. By redoing the WWs, doing optional textbook problems, and using resources in addition to bob's from the APMA 2130 all site, I ended up doing really well on the midterms and even the final. So you will succeed if you put the effort in. Definitely take this course with Johnson not only because of his ability to teach differential equations, but because he's a hilarious guy and if you get to know him well enough, will call you out (happened to me a lot) and makes a difficult subject engaging and doable!

This class is undoubtedly one of the best math courses at the University. Professor Johnson, or as his students like to call him "Space Bob", is an excellent professor who takes his time and genuinely cares about each and every one of his students. As far as I know, he is the only professor who posts lecture slides, which are extremely helpful when working on homework and studying for exams. In terms of workload, this class is decent, with WebWork assignments due every week, and a quiz every week as well. Exams were every month, but once again with adequate preparation, it is not hard to do well. The average on the first exam was 80, second was 90, and third was 88. The final is 30% of this course, which can make or break your grade at the end. In terms of content, if you have a solid foundation in derivation and integration, you should be fine. The only tricky part of this course for most was Laplace transforms, which are confusing but once again Professor Johnson explains them very well in class and in his office hours. If this is a class you must take, Professor Johnson is definitely the man.

This is hands down the best math course at UVA. In general, APMA courses are equivalent to the amalgamation of traffic accidents and appendicitis. However, with Johnson, prepare to have a very straightforward and fair experience. Differential Equations was a difficult course for me in the beginning, but soon you realize that Johnson's quizzes are EXACTLY like his lectures, and his lectures tend to dumb everything down significantly for easier understanding. His exams are JUST LIKE the quizzes, which are JUST LIKE the lectures, so if you review his powerpoint slides you can and will get a great grade. The final was a breeze thanks to Johnson, but he also made the overall experience of differential equations (AKA what could've been a course that makes one feel like tiger dung) very enjoyable.

Professor Johnson really wished to see everyone succeed in the course and he was trying his best to accomodate everyone's needs. Although sometimes a bit disorganized, he was a great teacher overall and was always available for his students.
Although the course got difficult at times by taking some time outside of class to solve some example problems I was able to get through the material.
WebWork problems along with the weekly quizzes were really helpful in forcing me to stay on track in the course. There were a total of 13 WW assignments and 10 quizzes throughout the semester.
If you want to do well in exams make sure you are not solving the hw problems on Wolfram Alpha and force yourself to do them. They make you understand how everything works and makes the lectures much easier to understand. Go through old exams and solve them without looking at the keys.
Definitely go to office hours and talk to Space Bob. He's awesome and I'm so happy I got to know him this semester. Would definitely recommend this course with him!

Not a bad class if you KEEP UP WITH THE WORK. Everything builds on the previous chapters. Johnson does a good job of teaching and is very enthusiastic and funny however, so if you have to take this class i would reccommend johnson

Space Bob is the best! If you have the chance to take diffeq with space bob I definitely recommend it. He's a quirky guy with an interesting teaching style. I found his class engaging and interesting. The homework always had some tough questions, but I found working with groups to help me alot. I received a C on the first test, but worked hard and got an A- in the class.

Space Bob is a great person, has a sense of humor, and really cares about his students. His teaching style is a bit quirky, but it makes it interesting to go to class. He takes the collab anonymous messages to heart to try to make the class time as beneficial as possible. The course material itself is pretty easy to understand if you listen to the lectures and mindfully do the homework (it's easy to just wolframalpha the answers, so it's up to you personally to sit down and do the problems although it sometimes gets tedious). He's very approachable and willing to work with students around their schedule (especially when it comes to tests). I worked hard and found the workload/difficulty perfectly manageable, but the class as a whole varied greatly in how hard they thought the course was. It went from "so easy I only showed up for tests/quizzes" to "this is the hardest class I've ever taken".

Space Bob is the best. The professor himself is a jolly guy, and you shouldn't have any issues dealing with him. However, his lectures are a bit sporadic - jumping back and forth and teaching in an unorganized fashion sometimes. While there are some mistakes in the slides he posts, they are the best way of teaching yourself the material, as they are usually pretty straight forward.

I also have to mention the fact that Johnson tries to really help his students grade wise. There was a curve on the third test (curves usually don't happen in APMA), and a lot more take-home quizzes than anticipated. He works to your advantage, but you have to keep up with the work.

He honestly wants the students to understand the material and do well. He is very knowledgeable on the subject and can answer any question. His teaching methods can be strange but effective if you give him a chance. If you don't understand him however, the textbook is really helpful. Easiest grader also

His class is very fun to go to. His quizzes and tests are no too bad. As long as you review slides from lectures, you will be able to succeed in his class.

Take Linear Algebra before this class. This professor was not suited for teaching. He was really sporadic and a little nuts. He would bring a stick to point to his powerpoint slides and slam it on the table randomly. He has very good intentions, but just doesn't cut it. He obviously doesn't write the tests. I learned the hard way when I based my studying on his weekly quizzes and didn't do too well. Like I said earlier, you will do much better in the course if you have taken or are taking linear algebra at the same time. It saved me a lot of head ache. I remember one lecture he literally tired teaching the first of half of linear algebra to us in 50 minutes.

I love sitting through Professor Johnson's lectures. It takes a little to get used to the way he talks through the material. He also teaches through slides but they're pretty helpful and have some good examples on them. He's a nice, approachable teacher and he's rather funny too.

Doc Johnson is the man to go to for help. He will go out of his way to make sure you understand the material.

Diff Eq is a fun and enjoyable course -- if you are a math person. Johnson is funny and cracks jokes, but is also very passionate about teaching. He looks out for you if he knows you try hard.

Funniest teacher ever. Not such a good teacher but grades REALLY easy