Lindsay Piechnik

Avoid her class at all costs. She hates teaching. She leaves 20-30 minutes early on EVERY class. She only lecture in 1 out of 3 classes. The other ones are either group projects, quizzes or exams. It is not surprising that her class covers at least 1/3 less content than classes taught by other professors. Why there are group exams and group projects in Linear Algebra? Of course, so that she doesn't have to lecture!

Initially I couldn't stand her style of teaching but to be honest as I got more and more accustomed to her as a person, I messed with the lectures, only slightly more though. Piechnik's midterms are horrendously easy and you very well might get an A plus. Overall would recommend if you're just doing it for a requirement, not if you're trying to learn something. Annoyingly specific about how to submit assignments.

THE WORST CLASS EVER. DO NOT TAKE. I took Calculus 3. Instructor was very rude. Questions on exam may not even be covered in lecture slides or anything. Practice problems given during class we can't even solve because we weren't taught the content. She only lectures on part of the lecture content and class is essentially over. She doesn't care if you're doing poorly. You can also get questions correct but if you do not explain how you solve each problem the way she likes you will lose points. You can lose points for many things too. Exams were 5 ish questions 30 mins, some were pretty hard because again they're not covered in the lecture material, homework, group tests, or any course materials, and in the exams you need to explain how you got each answer. All in 30 minutes. Do not take.

Good calc foundations. Take home exams. Homeworks were graded but solutions are at the back of the book.

This is a very doable class. I thought the tests would be harder due to them being take-home but they weren’t at all. She sometimes has this thing where she’ll go on tangents that will take up 25% of class time, but some people liked that. The class makeup is also weird since most people aren’t undergrads, so sometimes that makes required group projects feel awkward. I literally hated group projects so much since your group work is graded and if you don’t have one you can get a 0, but once you find a somewhat set group, it makes missing class less stressful. If you took high school pre-calc and did fine, you will do fine here too. Just make sure you turn in the homeworks on time because she has a very strict late penalty. Also make sure you don’t use the automatic tools on your notes app if you’re doing assignments and exams on your iPad because she’ll penalize you very harshly for that too.

Awful teacher. Even if you're good at math, stay away. Literally took this class for a refresh as a math major and she still managed to make it a living hell. And it wasn't even because of the content - it was the structure of the course that was exasperating. So convoluted for what - she's the least understanding teacher I've ever had at Columbia.

It sounds like Professor Piechnik has a distinctive teaching style, especially focused on group work and collaboration. Her approach may feel supportive and enjoyable to some, as students can discuss problems together and reinforce each other's understanding in a less traditional, more interactive setup. However, the heavy reliance on group work and class activities might be challenging if you're someone who prefers a lecture-based, individually-focused learning approach. If you're not deeply comfortable with calculus or math in general, the lack of traditional instruction could be a drawback. Additionally, if attendance is tough to maintain due to other responsibilities or a challenging course load, her strict late policies might be frustrating, especially with her emphasis on consistent participation and homework.

This professor was awesome. I had not taken math in many years (the highest level I had done in high school was pre-calculus) so I was in need of a refresher before entering pre-calculus and then calculus in the fall. Not only was she entertaining, but she taught a very thorough class. Nothing felt "rushed" despite the fact that the whole 6 week session is rushed. She times out the class well, and creates a collaborative class room with well managed participation so no single person's "issue" would overwhelm the lesson. I personally found her sarcastic tone to be hilarious, and I appreciated when she would call me out for being "WRONG." She did not entertain "short-cuts," preferring that we understand "why." I left feeling a little bummed about my high school math education--I swear I didn't learn HALF of this...they just let me slide by with A's through rote memorization. Yes, the course is non-credit--but I feel it is definitely worth it. If you can at all afford it, are not lazy, and want to do well in your future classes, swallow your pride and enroll in "basic math." The first few lectures left me questioning if I had made the right choice (the syllabus covers everything starting from the beginning) but you will be thanking yourself when you get into pre-calc and you are able to hit the ground running instead of re-learning concepts or wasting time reviewing rusty skills.…

Content is adequately presented, though in admittedly an un engaging format: she’ll pretty much only stick to reciting definitions and theorems in a certain order, mostly staying away from trying to build theoretical understanding. To her credit, though, she teaches you everything you need to know for her exams.

i did not like piechnik as a person nor did i find her teaching style to be that effective whatsoever. she came to class late, left early, and often did not teach us much of the material that ended up being on the homework. she would tell stories about her personal life in class that i’m sure none of us really wanted to hear, had us complete a group project which i felt was unnecessary for a math class, and whenever i emailed/asked her for help or feedback, she answered quite rudely and condescendingly (though i will say she responds to emails very fast). i had very few interactions with her over the course of the semester and none of them were too positive. she grades with an extremely strict criteria, but i believe that once you learn how to identify the things that she’s looking for, her grading is not particularly terrible. however, she is not lenient whatsoever with deadlines/requirements and if you breach any one of her extremely specific expectations she will dock an unreasonable amount of points. she also has no sympathy whatsoever for any of her students’ extenuating life circumstances (i have been told stories of students who had family members pass away and piechnik still refused to allow them to reschedule exams). the one upside to her class is that her exams were extremely short and therefore had much less material than the homework. i found her exams relatively e…