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Tufts University: David Isles - Mathematics - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Review:
Professor Isles is one of the worst math instructors I have ever had. I feel he does not teach the material well and when a student has a question, he does not do a good job of answering it. You have to teach the material to yourself because his lectures are not helpful at all in understanding the material being covered.
Workload:
Assignments are pretty straightforward; a set of problems are due each day.
review a class you took with David Isles - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: David Isles - Mathematics - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Review:
Professor Isles is a very funny person, and this keeps lectures interesting. Although course material isn't all that interesting, it is easy to grasp, and Professor Isles is very good about answering questions. Note: if you ask a question about the homework, he very often tells you the exact answer he wants to see on the assignment. I would highly recommend this class for a non-math major, especially someone interested in politics because most of the class is about different voting systems.
Workload:
There were a total of 10 homework assignments and 3 exams. (The final was not cumulative.) The homeworks averaged from very easy questions to really difficult questions, but Prof. Isles is more than willing to discuss the more difficult ones in class. Exams were pretty straight forward, and if you do the practice exam he hands out and go to review sessions, they were not bad at all.
professor rating:  | course rating: | major: N/A | |
review a class you took with David Isles - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: David Isles - Mathematics - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Review:
Professor Isles is a great professor, genuinely concerned with students' understanding of the material. A very smart man and fair grader as well. Probably my favorite professor in the math department (a department that otherwise is composed of arrogant power-trippers that won't even let you miss an exam when you have the flu and a doctor's excuse!)
Workload:
The work was more than average. Difficult problem sets due almost every class, with 3 tests.
professor rating:  | course rating: | major: N/A | |
review a class you took with David Isles - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: David Isles - Mathematics - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Review:
Otherwise called "math for dummies" by my classmates, is probably the easiest way to get your math credit if you're a non-math major. Isles is a good professor, I think. If you come to class fairly regularly and have half a brain, you should easily be able to understand what he's talking about (e.g. different voting methods, fair division, etc). For three weeks of the semester, he presents the methods that he's trying to teach by creating actual demonstrations involving students in the class, chocolate cake, candy, juice, fruit, etc. He has a good sense of humor, and is patient with the students that keep asking him to explain the same thing 10 times. For a class that no one wants to take but has to in order to graduate, it's really not that bad.
Workload:
Math of Social Choics IS, contrary to what some people believe, an actual class. But if you treat it like a real class (i.e. go to it fairly regularly (he doesn't take attendance), and if not, at least read the book and do the problem sets) then the work should be easy. There is a problem set due once a week which you can work on in groups. At the beginning, these problem sets are pretty challenging, but he takes one class a week to go over problems that people have questions on. Office hours with the TA also help clarify the more difficult problems. As the semester goes on, the problem sets get easier and usually don't take more than 1.5 hours to do on average, which is not that much since that's pretty much all the work you do for the class all week long. The tests are FAR easier than the problem sets, although they get more difficult as the semester goes on.
professor rating: | course rating:  | major: N/A | |
review a class you took with David Isles - help your classmates make informed decisions!
Tufts University: David Isles - Mathematics - Professor ratings, reviews and much more | JumboAccess
Review:
Professor Isles, while probably a genuinely nice older man, is the most disorganized, confusing, and unprepared professor on campus. None are these are traits that you'd want in a person teaching math to you. While the concepts are not overly complex, his attempts at explaining them tend to confuse students more often than not. In my experience, the class ended up being self taught. If you have some background in upper level mathematics (not necessarily calculus) and/or statistics, this shouldn't be too hard of a math requirement course to get out of the way. However, be prepared to be exasperated at lectures often times.
Workload:
Homework due every class, 3 exams and final. Review sheets are helpful to study from.
professor rating:  | course rating:  | major: N/A | |
review a class you took with David Isles - help your classmates make informed decisions! |
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