Dusa Mcduff

The class itself is pretty straightforward and she curves extremely well. She is not good at explaining things, but if you go to the math help room with questions you will be fine. The midterms and final are much easier than the HW problem sets and she gives you practice exams that are almost identical to the real exams.

One of the first introductory math classes to abstract concepts. First few weeks were a difficult transition, especially having never taken a proofs-based class before. Lectures are well-structured and notes are (usually) posted in advance. Prof McDuff is clearly very smart and accomplished, and will make passing comments in class about how concepts are "really very simple" when they are not - but she is very good about taking questions in class and during office hours. Overall would recommend. Definitely one of the more unique and well-taught math courses I've taken and prepared me well in terms of proofs.

Taking manifolds during covid with Dusa was the singly most painful experience in my entire academic history. This class dealt with lots of definitions and theorems but she seemed to take advantage of the online format and assigned us tons of work. The pace of the lecture was unbelievably fast. I’ve managed to do all of the required works and ended up with good grades but I was unnecessarily stressed all the time and failed at other classes. Unfortunately, she was not a good lecturer. She seemed to know her stuff very well but she spilled out the knowledge instead of teaching.

The Good: She follows syllabus and textbooks to the T. She allows for any questions at the start of every class, so if you started your hw early and need some help with a certain question, she does it on the board. She goes over any part of her work on the board that isn't clear (even if she can be a little condescending in her response). Office Hours can get a little packed but she works with you until you get through whatever is confusing you. You can even stop by Friday morning before the homework is due to ask questions about the assignment. She tells you when she's going to do a proof, so you know when to zone out and zone back into class. If the TAs graded your homework wrong, she'll fix it. She answers emails within 1-2 days. Webassign has "watch me" videos that basically give you the answer. She is witty and makes a few good jokes during the semester Fun Fact: For the first few classes she wore the exact same outfit everyday. If you google her, she can be found in the same outfit. The Bad: Webassign Webassign Webassign. She knows it's annoying but still uses it. Sometimes it does't accept the answers that are right and because of technicalties and problems with Webassign itself, you'll get the answer wrong. In that case though, you can email her and she'll unlock the question so you can try to answer it again. The other that, if you're not a math person, the class is b…

I was initially nervous to take this class, as my last exposure to calculus was a standard-level high school course two years ago. I found this class extremely challenging, largely due to the teaching style. There is no doubt that Professor McDuff is highly intelligent and deeply passionate about what she does, however, her lectures often move too quickly over foundational concepts that are crucial for actually understanding the material, especially for someone without a strong background in calculus. She frequently dismissed questions as being "too simple," as she assumed everyone knew the material (when in fact not many people did) which made people feel stupid for asking important questions. The material was so easy for her that it often seemed like she forgot this was the first time some students were learning this. I personally found the lectures unhelpful and at times, left more confused than before. I learned pretty much everything from the textbook on my own outside of class. That said, the grading scale is relatively generous, with three options available to maximize your grade, which helped a lot. Overall, I would say that Professor McDuff isn't a great teacher, but there are worse, and if you work outside of class, you will be fine.

Professor McDuff is amazing. She is incredibly knowledgable and in the forefront of her field, yet she is incredibly patient and kind when teaching this intro class. She holds office hours three times a week, which is way more than she really needs to. It just shows how much she wants us to all do well. Responding to someone's comment from 2020, of course she is a nitpicky grader. This is an intro class for rigorous math. If mathematicians aren't precise, how can anything be agreed upon? I enjoy the content very much, and I also like the lecture notes she posts which are really helpful if I don't understand something in class.

One of the best professors you could ever have. She’s genuinely amazing. Just be warned; you might end up hating your other classes because this class is just so enjoyable. Don’t compare, or you’ll start expecting every class to be this supportive and enjoyable, and most of them just aren’t. if you really get to be in this class, just know that you are lucky.

This is a class with no prerequisites, but you will be expected to grasp new and abstract concepts quickly. Also, many students have already taken linear algebra, ODE, or Discrete Math (that has a VERY similar syllabus to this class), etc., so if you have not taken beyond calculus, you will be behind other students in exposure. Still, this is an intro class, so the content doesn't really require previous background. Her lectures usually feel rushed and like she's just throwing information at you without giving any time to process what she is saying. She will often say things once or twice and then expect you to know what she's talking about or say that it's "simple" or "basic". So if you want to do well in this class, you should to teach yourself everything from the textbook and notes (she posts all the lecture notes) before class and then get clarification in class. Overall, this is a good introduction to proof-writing if you want to go on to Modern Algebra or Analysis or want to see what being a math major is like.

Do not expect to learn any of the material in class as Professor Mcduff is not a good lecturer. I don't think I learned anything inside the classroom. Outside of that, her midterms were very fair and based off the review sheet provided. However, her final was much more difficult and not fair based on the past midterms. She said she wanted to make it harder as people did too well on the midterm. If you are good at math then this class is for you as you don't really need to show up and she the grading is meant to help you.

Well. I think she's alright, but sometimes it could be better. She is definitely tough on grading and sometimes makes mistakes when explaining things. The best way to take her class is to download the notes she posts before each lecture and print them for annotations. All of the points are on the notes, and she will basically do the same process again with more explanations. However, do remind her to post the notes if she forgets. I took this during Fall 2020, and she added two projects for grading. It was fun. She also assigned some HW groups. If the group is communicating, then the course will be much easier. However, her finals are really, really tough. It took me almost 10 hours to finish everything. I mean, 3 hours is still reasonable, but 10? Well, the final grades end up pretty well for me(but it seems like she didn't curve much), but it was still way out of my expectations. Make sure to figure out every mistake in the HW before starting the next one. She is always available for individual sessions(on zoom) so make sure you do that. The previous things will help you learn later content. Save yourself and figure everything else. Oh, and she really focuses on making you learn. One of the HW is literally fixing all of your mistakes on the midterm. And I did learn a lot from this course.