APMA 3100

Daria is a terrible professor whose disdain for her students is matched only by her arrogance. Probability is a very interesting subject, yet she manages to squash that interest out of the majority of her students over the span of a semester. I would not recommend this course to anyone.

Snider is probably the worst teacher I've had. As others have said, she comes off as hostile and condescending. It doesn't seem like she wants to help you, or have people do well in the class.

That said, It's not an insanely hard class. Do the homework, especially book section quizzes and end of chapter problems, and you'll do fine.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!! I can confidently say without exaggeration that Ms. Snider is the worst professor I have ever had the displeasure to be taught by. Never before have I seen a teacher PUNISH students for asking questions. I distinctly remember one morning when we were taking a quiz; one of my friends forgot his formula sheet, and asked Ms. Snider if she had any extras. Ms. Snider asked the class if anyone else needed a formula sheet, and five others raised their hands. She gave formula sheets to those students, and then told my friend that she had no more. With ten minutes left in the quiz, another student asked for a formula sheet; she gave 'her copy' to this student, and then finally gave 'her other copy' to my friend.

Ms. Snider does not allow one to ask typo-unrelated questions during exams, which I suspect is because she is not confident in her ability to solve the problems. I once asked her a question to clarify the wording in a test problem, and she merely responded that "the problem [was] right from the textbook", smiling. Additionally, the fact that the majority of quiz and test problems come directly from the textbook make me question her understanding of the material. I would not be surprised if she simply memorized the solutions to the example problems she does in class.

Furthermore, she does not curve the course, which is absurd considering the grade distribution. Our second test had an average of 70; not a single person in the auditorium handed it in before she called time. Her words were "this was not a hard test, and I do not curve". She then thought it was relevant to bring up a story of how she taught her elementary school son calculus, as if to undermine our intelligence. She told this same story on multiple occasions.

In summary, Ms. Snider creates an environment not at all conducive to learning. She intimidates students from asking questions, and murders both their motivation to learn and interest in the course with her condescending attitude. Although she lectures the material accurately and with clarity, she does not seem concerned at all if the whole class passes or fails, and offers minimal help if the class leans toward the latter situation. I personally would rather spend hours learning a problem on my own, than a minute being insulted by her in her office hours. The only reason I could see the University hiring her is to make APMA 3100 a weed-out course, rather than one that aims to help it's students efficiently and effectively learn the material. I know many others feel this way, so I do not see why she still has a job at this prestigious institution, where she falls so far below the standard for professor quality. Even though I enjoy math and am in the process of completing an APMA minor, Daria Snider made me hate probability.

Listen to me. Snider is the worst professor you will ever have. However, I will admit she is a decent lecturer. Contrary to what people say, I think she knows the material. Is she condescending? Yes, most definitely. Is she a nice person? No, not by any means. I'll be honest she is the worst professor I have ever had. She hardly posts anything on collab. I felt like I was in an atmosphere that she was out to get me.

However, probability itself is an interesting class. I actually enjoyed the material regardless on how awful the professor was. Towards the end, the material gets really abstract.

If you don't do the bookwork throughly, you will fail the quizzes. And trust me I did that. However, I did every book problem before the final, and felt decently prepared for the final. All her questions are straight from book problems so just do them. I know you probably won't because they are time consuming and most people don't. However, you will regret it.

Snider honestly shouldnt be a professor she seems to strongly dislike when people ask questions or dont understand the material, not to mention she is very condescending. I would reccomend taking this class with anyone other than Snider.

Worst class I have ever taken at UVA. Professor Snider is rude, pedantic beyond belief, and clearly unprepared to teach this class. It's basically the worst high school class you ever took, but worse than that. She treats her students like elementary school students, and is disrespectful and unhelpful. If someone asks a question she'll spend about 30 seconds unsuccessfully answering the question and another two minutes ridiculing the student for asking. She stresses the importance of practicing our calculus, but whenever she tried to do (simple) calculus, she would struggle. Basically whenever she had to deviate from her lesson plan, she made tons of mistakes.

I think she's so rude, especially to questions, because she's covering up for a lack of knowledge about math. Not to be over dramatic, but every time I had to go to her class I felt like I died a little inside. Definitely take T/Th instead of M/W/F if you absolutely have to take the class with her, so at least only two of your days are ruined each week. If at all possible take this class with fulgham or anybody else.

She says "go for the understanding" but grades in the most nitpicky way I've ever seen. Don't bother asking about questions about grading, she will never give points back. Even if you should get them back, she'll just find the tiniest mistake somewhere else in the assignment and use that to justify not giving back credit.

She is the worst professor I've ever had, full stop.

Worst class I've taken at UVA so far. I'm warning you, DO NOT take this class with Snider.

Professor Snider is reasonably knowledgable on the subject. That being said, she is terribly belittling to her students, especially when they ask questions or don't understand the material. She has no trust in her students, which naturally gives her students absolutely no reason to trust her in return. She doesn't listen to personal questions about exams, especially if it is about points; she will raise her voice at you in front of the class if you ask about points.

Our second (of two) exam average was below 70% and she still would not curve grades. One time, in front of the entire class, she started a conversation with a student who had clearly emailed her before class. She publicly humiliated the student by rejecting his proposition to take his exam at another time due to a conflict. At that time it became evident that she does not follow the University policy of exam scheduling conflicts when she instructed her students to "ask your other professor to take their exams at another time; I have too many students to deal with!" Oh really, like other professors don't have any students to deal with. Okay, Mrs. Snider, how selfish and egomaniacal.

Do not enroll in any course taught by this person.

The first month into classes, I liked Snider and thought she was a great professor contrary to what I had heard. And then the second exam happened and I realized she is pure evil. When we had 30 of our 90 minutes left, she announced that we had 30 minutes left while smiling. Not a single person left before time was up. She told us that if we averaged a 65 on the exam that we weren't studying hard enough. But the exam was just too difficult. Also, don't bother asking questions in class, she will tear you apart. And don't try to answer the questions she asks. I swear it's a trick for her to get the opportunity to show to the class how stupid you are. She is so belittling and I couldn't believe how much she made me hate probability. I loved math since elementary school and she made me decide not to pursue the math minor. She single-handedly did that. AVOID THIS CLASS IF YOU CAN. That being said, we had Fulgham teach one of our classes and he was a terrible lecturer. So you can go with the terrible person but good lecturer or the terrible lecturer but nice person. Either way, you're screwed.

Snider is a decent lecturer who teaches what is required, however her attitude with the class is abysmal. She constantly believes you are more irresponsible and younger than you are and is extremely condescending to her students.

She fails to give help when asked or offer alternatives, and expects more out of the student than what is practical.