Joel Nachlas
School: | Virginia Tech |
Department: | Engineering |
Location: | Blacksburg, VA |
Overall Rating
rated by 18 students
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
School: | Virginia Tech |
Department: | Engineering |
Location: | Blacksburg, VA |
Helpfulness | |
Clarity | |
Easiness |
Mailing Address:
Uloop Inc.
306 S. Washington Ave
Suite 400
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Telephone Support:
312.854.7605
Email Support:
greg@uloop.com
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.
Cons: I cannot begin to describe how painful this class was. God help you.
Cons: Troll
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.
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.
Cons: Everything.
I wouldn't have given any star if there was an option.
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
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.
An ISE professor teaching a statistics course..for an introductory stats course, that had a bad book, bad teacher...= bad news
Cons: dude sux