Joel Nachlas

School: Virginia Tech
Department: Engineering
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Overall Rating
rated by 18 students
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There is no way to like this guy. I feel sorry for anyone he has been assigned to. Anyone who relies on him as a mentor is going to end up confused and thinking they are stupid. There are ways to teach things to people with care and even love and that works better than derision and dismissiveness. He thinks hes great and thats all that matters to him - arrogant and pompous. He should be working in this field and not trying to teach it - some folks just are not cut out to mold youthful minds!
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Pros: Honestly none, I just really dislike the guy.
Cons: Bear with me...
Nachlas is just not what you want in a teacher. He is the type of teacher who does not care about his students at all (compared to Dr. Fraticelli who loves her students and really actually wants you to succeed). He could care less if the entire class failed his class, as long as he is getting paid he is happy. You need a TI-89 for this class or you have no hope at all.
The first couple quizzes were really easy, he takes questions from past quizzes so just study those and some are the exact same. We all were thinking the class wasn't that bad as the average was in the 70 range every quiz. Then the 4th quiz came around and Nachlas jokingly told us he was going to make the quizzes harder, and boy did he ever. The average on the 4th quiz was a 48%, the 5th a 42%, and the final exam I heard was around a 40%. Yes he does curve the class, but obviously something is wrong with you as a teacher if most students are failing your quizzes. Nachlas also made so many mistakes when teaching this class that it made everything at the end very confusing. This class was my lowest grade in all of college, all I can say is good luck and thank goodness I am done with Nachlas.
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Pros: He knows what he's talking about.
Cons: I cannot begin to describe how painful this class was. God help you.
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Pros: He coaches Lax
Cons: Troll
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Pros: Knowledgeable about the material.
Won't treat you like a child.
Tests are (relatively) fair if you know how to work them.
Cons: Miserable teacher, lectures are often confusing and undecipherable.
Tests are written for the smartest 1% of the class.
Poor teaching ability and high standards force you to learn the material on your own.
Laziness gets in his way of actually explaining statistics to students while his arrogance prevents him from empathizing with students.
I learned a great deal from this class and have a true appreciation for probability afterwards. I also found Dr. Nachlas to be one of the most refreshing professors I've had at Virginia Tech. He is weeding out the lazy students and pushing through those who are willing to work hard. He curves his averages to around a C (2.0) which means that if you're an average student that's the grade you can expect.
To elaborate on that point, we are all used to getting B's and people flip out when they start to realize a B or an A isn't going to happen. To Nachlas, stat and any other class is just a process. Much in the same way a manufacturing line is a process to an industrial engineer. He knows what the distribution will look like and he knows the variance. His test averages are abysmal because he's a no frills sort of person and expects the best from his students. The best will get an A. The average will get a C. I'm average and that's what I got.
Two points to be made. One, expect to work hard in his class for a very low reward. You might study 15-20 hours (excluding hw) for a test and still get a 40. This is not unusual because he gives no partial credit and the problems he gives are usually too time consuming to do by hand. If you're a good test taker you'll know exactly what to do on his tests and how to use your calculator to get there. If you're not, find someone who is and strategize with them. Often the difference between an A and a C on Nachlas' tests are simply not making small errors that cost you points.
Another word of warning is that Spring 2013 will use a new book that he wrote. After taking his class and reading the book, it's obvious it was written by him and most of the problems in this new textbook are from previous semesters homework. This will make learning the material much easier because he's a much better writer than he is a lecturer.
Short and sweet guide to passing his class:
1) Do all of the homework (in groups) work his problems first because they're the ones that will appear on the test.
2) Know what a convolution integral and a Jacobian is. Nachals' math background is well above ours. These two topics are never touched on in multivariable calculus or Differential equations yet he will expect you to know them and use them.
3) Go to every class. Seriously. He knows it's scheduled at 8 am and he knows people will skip. I'm pretty sure this is intentional. Even if you're walking out of class more confused than when you came in, go. Why? Because he randomly takes attendance. And why do that? So you don't get a 0 for the 8% of your grade labeled on the syllabus as "Attendance and Intangibles." Further, if you're there and ask questions, he'll learn your name. How? When you go and get your test with a nice little 17% written on it, he'll look at it and your name and match your name with your face. If he sees you often (he will because the class gets empty once people start giving up) he'll remember that you at least gave two shits and came to class.
4) Nachlas is useless during office hours, but helpful during class. If there is a question you're confused at look at the solution first. Try to figure it out from there. If you really don't get it, ask him after class. He might be a little grouchy about it, but you'll get an answer out of him.
5) The key to his tests is one word. TI-89. Nachlas didn't realize our calculators could do calculus until someone told him halfway through the semester. He didn't eliminate the use of calculators on tests because he fully expects people to use them to do distribution calculations and the like. Use your 89 to do those crazy integration by parts problems and use the distribution functions in the stat application. If you don't have an 89 borrow or buy one because you will need it.
6) Nachlas will treat you like you're smarter than you actually are. He knows you're 19 or 20 and fully capable of learning shit on your own. Go do it. Spend a lot of time on this class. If you find it interesting, you'll find industrial engineering fairly interesting. Don't let Nachlas' poor teaching and grading befuddle you, this material is cool and if you get him talking, he'll tell you how cool it is.
7) Practice Koofers. He posts old tests on scholar. Ask your older ISE friends who have past solutions (they're often on this site as well). Take one, by yourself in 50 mins (at least that was the time we were allotted). There's a reason Nachlas can grade 150 tests in 2 days. All he does is look for the answer written somewhere on the sheet. I've literally plugged the problem into my calculator written down the answer only and gotten full points. Supporting work will not get you credit, the answer will. Therefore when you go to grade your practice koofer if the correct answer is there give yourself full points. If not, 0. This will give you some idea of what grade you can expect on his tests.
8) Know the structure of his tests. Nachlas writes tests so that you can aggregate points. His tests are cumulative so if there is something you didn't get on the last test re-learn it. It will be on the next test and it will be worth relatively fewer points than it was before. The problems worth the most points will require extensive calculation and multiple parts. If you can do these, expect to do well on the exam. Don't go for the small problems that require lots of calculation. They're worth relatively little and take up too much time. The more high valued problems are conceptually harder and are designed for smarter students to get. Be one of those students.
9) Don't fear Nachlas. Fear yourself. He knows what he's doing and for better or for worse has been doing it for years. Work hard and try to do well. Don't be downtrodden when you get a bad grade. Everyone else did too! Try to stay on or above the average and you'll pass. Probably with a C but that's average, not failing.
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Pros: Absolutely none.
Cons: I could write a 10 page essay of cons for Nachlas.
Seriously, the worst teacher I've ever had. I wrote about 3 paragraphs on my course evaluation about how he's condescending, pompus, and overall terrible. He doesn't care at all about the students and could really care less if you actually learn anything. He makes it obvious if he thinks that a question is a dumb question and not worth his time. All he wants to do is his research and could care less about this class. I'd give him a negative five stars, but apparently koofers doesn't allow you to do that.
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Pros: Cons.
Cons: Everything.
I wouldn't have given any star if there was an option.
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Pros: lots of hw helps you learn the material
Cons: not a very good teacher
frequently gets lost/spends 20 minutes on a problem before realizing it's wrong
tests are nigh impossible
practice tests don't represent what will be on the test
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Pros: Smart prof, very knowledgable, odd sense of humor.
Cons: hard to follow lectures as he is constantly changing variable and terms.
the key is going to class and the review sessions with his TAs.
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Cons: Only used the chalkboard, rarely used scholar, rarely prepared, organization of material was terrible, no books until 2 weeks into class and he had no interest in expediting the process.
An ISE professor teaching a statistics course..for an introductory stats course, that had a bad book, bad teacher...= bad news
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Worked very hard just to pass. He will tell you that the Homework due the day of the quiz will not be on the test, but it somehow always ends up on there. He thinks you should know the material already, and mostly derives stuff during class. Just study the homework solutions given because some of the same ones show up on quizzes.
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Pros: none
Cons: dude sux
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Good Teacher, knows his stuff. Material is difficult, so do all the homework even if it not's graded because its the exact same on the tests. Do the practice quizzes. The Motorcycle book was dry in my opinion and he changes the format of the quizzes every semester. Don't read the cliff notes unless you read the book too, VERY detailed quizzes.
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This man is crazy. He's really smart, but can't explain anything on a student's level. He only writes notes on the chalk board, but does it off the top of his head and frequently makes mistakes. If you have a problem with how your test was graded he says to write an explanation about why you want points back, but then never gives you points back stating that you don't understand the fundamentals. I feel like he just likes watching everyone fail and suffer. Since you don't have a choice of teacher for this course... good luck. Suffer for a semester - it will all be over soon.
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Class is very very difficult but rewarding. Reading ahead of the lectures is requisite as his lectures don't teach but expand on the book. Homework is crucial, make sure to attend the TA's homework sessions, or get answers from friends. Working as hard as I possibly could, and knowing a lot about statistics, I could only manage to get 75 averages on all the tests.
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Dr. Nachlas is an often misunderstood person. He can be a difficult person to work it, and the material is near impossible to comprehend. But if you have a negative impression of the course to begin with, you might as well not take it. You don't have to take away all the little details, as there are far too many. If you can just take away the big picture and main concepts, the class doesn't seem so bad. In fact, it'll probably be very important stuff later on.
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SQC is no different than DOR or POR or any of the other horrible classes where you learn nothing and just try to beat the average. The only thing different is that Nachlas doesn't try to mask how much of a jerk he is. Don't ask dumb questions. The one good thing I will say for him is that he curves the average to a C+ instead of the C most other teachers curve to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending him. His lectures are far too heavy on derivations and don't have anywhere near enough examples. In the end I think most students go into the class already afraid of him and already having given up. Don't buy the book, it's a waste of money. Do all of your work and don't fear him.
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One of the toughest teachers I have ever had. Go to class and take notes cause thats a MUST, the book is worthless without the notes. Exams are almost impossible and you are left worrying all semester until the massive curve he gives at the end. Oh, and a helpful tip, DO ALL HOMEWORK! If you don't, your grade will drop significantly. TAKE THE OPTIONAL FINAL! Its worth it,it saved my but, the easiest out of the 4 exams in the semester. And the book will help you with the experimental design.

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