Epstein, Gary  

I liked this class. Dr. Epstein is kind of funny, quirky guy once you get to know him.

Good class. I didn't have any problems with the teacher.

I did ok in this course. It's tough, but, hey, it's math! Get over it!

This guy can make a bowling class seem boring. He reads right off his notes and never looks up. I dropped the class in the 2nd week just because of him.

I liked Dr. Epstein. I also like physics which helps. It seemed to me that he was interested in us, he was always available for office hours and, ok, he's not a real dynamoe but he knows his subject and works really hard. I would recommend him.

I came away with a better understanding of the subject and that's the point, right?

He is the worst teacher that I have ever had. Aside from giving the hardest final I have ever taken, on which the highest grade was only a 50% (and no curve), he is, I believe, completely incompetent. He derives equations that you never need to know, and is completely lost on what you are asking when you have a question in class. He is also lazy, gives horribly low partial credit, even on those 10 part problems, and is not very good in office hours. Avaoid him like the plague.

I worked hard in this class and I learned the stuff. Tests are not so bad if you study and pay attention.

Ever since Calc I, I've gone out of my way to avoid this guy. His final was pretty difficult compared to what his midterms were like. He's not terribly tough, but he is extremely dry.

Simply, a horrible professor. He can not effectively teach Calculus. He has to be the BEST professor to Avoid in the Math department. And thats a hard award to be granted in the Math department. One reason Gary Epstein is a bad teacher is because his final is unfairly difficult. It was the hardest final I have ever taken by far and with no contention. The questions took use of ugly numbers and where ridiculously complicated. I took the course over after getting a D because of the final,(C dropped to D), and received an A, but I would of still flunked his final.

Dr. Epstein was very boring and dry. He can't grade either, so make sure you double check his work. And watch out for the homework graders- they couldn't add if their life depended on it.

Epstein is a great teacher. He has an excellent grading system ( an A is between 100 and 83). There is a lot of homework but the tests are not too difficult. He explains the material well and has flexible office hours. I would definitely recommend him.

Doctor Epstein is somewhat reserved, with a quirky sense of humor and an easygoing attitude. Everyone in my class thought he was really cool when he curved the midterms low, helping us all to get really sweet grades. But what's with that final!? It is the hardest math test I've ever taken! And no curve? Sorry, man, but you just didn't prepare us for that. I've lost all respect for this professor after that last day of class.

This man cannot teach calculus to save his life. He teaches only from the book, and gives no lessons based on what the homework is. His test problems come out of nowhere, meaning, he pulls them out of his ass and you have probably never seen them before. His final is unbelievable. Oh, he makes you do lots and lots of homework.

Dr. Epstein's class is not for the slacker. His test are really challenging and there is homework every night. He is a very easy going prof and very helpful and informative during office hours, which are every day of the week. He doesnt give that much partial credit but his grading scale kicks ass:83-100 is an A and a 66 is a B! Fear the final...

Who told this guy he could teach? Dr. Epstein has to be the worst teacher I've ever had. He spent entire class periods proving theorems we didn't need to know. One class period he proved why the derivative of sine is cosine for no apparent reason. He doesn't tell you what you need to know for the homework and his tests are unbelievable. He definitely pulls the problems out of his ass. They're not from the homework and you've never seen any like them. Sure his grading scale is nice, IF you can get an 83 or above. That just proves how bad he is. He has to lower his grading scale so you can appear to do well. It doesn't matter how much you pay attention in his class, because you'll be teaching yourself the material anyway. I was lucky enough to get out of the final because he hurt his back or something. But I can guarantee my grade would be lower if I had to take that test.

If you have a basic knowledge of calculus, then take this guy. He is not a great teacher, but his grading system rules! If you do the homework that he assigns then you should do fine. All you need is like a 54% to get a C in his class. He has a set curve on his tests. I got a 44% on one of my tests, and he curved it to a 68, which was a C+ in his class. He gives a test in the library, and he has hint days the day before, in which he gives you the exact type of question that will be on the test, just with different numbers. On top of all that, he lets you use a notecard on the tests, and a full sheet of paper on the final. Beware of his final though, it is very hard. You have to study hard for the final, but he is worth taking.

I had a B going into the final, but he has the rediculous rule that you must pass the final to pass the class....The final was the hardest test I have ever taken. Needless to say, I failed the final, and could have ended up with a C in the class, but after he dumbass rule, I "earned" and F....Avoid him, or study your ass off for the final

I thought Prof. Epstein was better than many of the other people here on polyratings. He seemed very interested in making sure that the class knew the material and requested we turn in a question every week. His grading system seems easy since you only have to aquire half the possible points to get a C, the hard part although is the tests. His tests are very difficult. He usually picks the hardest problems from the homework. He is a fair teacher and he will definitely give you help during office hours.

Dr. Epstein did a fairly good job in presenting the course material - he obviously knows his stuff very well, and at times you can tell that he defintely enjoys his work, but he doesn't always seem that enthusiastic about teaching. His tests are pretty hard, but not as hard as everyone says - if you actually do the homework, and make an attempt to _understand_ and not just copy from the back, you should be able to do fine. His grading scale DEFINTLEY helps out (I think a C goes all the way down to about 60%). All in all, he's an average prof, and barring other better choices, I would take him again.

Not a good teacher period. I took calc in high school and learned more then than i did in Dr. Epsteins class. A nice guy with an odd sense of humor but can not teach effectively.

First of all, I would like to thank the good doctor for having an avalanche of a grading scale which has slid down the mountain and into the valley where my mathematical understanding seems to reside. Other than that, he doesnt have much going for him. The tests are very hard, and even though I studied, I always felt like they were so unlike the work and lectures preceeding, that they didnt make any sense. I could rip on him all day, but I dont think any Calculus teacher is worthy of a good word from me so I wont bother. However, I think he is very funny, in a demented old man sort of way. Beware of the Hermit underneath the bridge.

Dr. Epsteing can be excellent at teaching and communicating material. However, he is vastly superior at doing this in a one on one setting as opposed to teaching an entire class. When I talked to him in person about a particular problem he explained it quite clearly and was a great benefit. In class, he tends to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the homework from the preceeding day, often spending only 15 minutes (or less!) on the topics meant for that day. This meant that, outside of going to office hours, the book was the primary teacher (and a lousy one it is). Anyway, he's a nice guy who knows his stuff and can teach it, but the student needs to approach him outside of class in order to get the most out of it.

Epstein gives homework every night, but he doesn't give much. But because he spent all previous lecture doing one homework problem that we didn't (and still dont) get, you're sort of on your own to teach yourself how to do the problems (I recommend hotmath.org or a solutions manual). Along with self-teaching, he only gives a few of the hardest questions seen on homework. Without a calculator, you have to get through numbers obviously chosen at random (meaning they're usually hard to deal with), and expected to get it right. He does have a grading scale that is pretty easy to pass with a C, but it gets harder and harder if you want a B or an A.

Horrible; doesn't explain needed material. Instead, he spends most of class explainining homework problems.

DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASS WITH THIS MAN! I got a 5 on the Calculus AP test and barely managed to pass this ridiculous class. He usually spends 40 to 50 minutes reviewing one or two homework problems from the night before, leaving 10 minutes to teach the new material. He makes no effort to explain any of the concepts, he just works out problems on the board. Calling his tests difficult is an understatement. He gives the exceptions to all the rules you studied for, or gives the most complex numbers for you to work with. If you still doubt me, look at the curve on the class. 67 out 200 is a passing grade on his final. That is ridiculous. Avoid this teacher!

Epstein cannot teach very well, but he is hilarious. He spends 40 minutes or so going over homework problems only to leave 15 minutes to lecture. I found hotmath.org to teach much better than Epstein. He spends way too long proving formulas instead of actually doing problems. You have to turn in homework, so actually do it. You have to write an essay after each midterm on if you were satisfied with your grade. The day before the exam, he tells you what the questions will be and lets you use a cheat sheet on the exam. The tests are hard to do without a calculator. He takes weeks to grade the midterms. He will adopt just about any policy that the majority of the class votes for. This class is not very fun, pretty pointless to go to, but the grading scale is awesome. I think 50% is a C, 68% is a B, and 83% is an A. This makes up for everything. Note this is a rigid scale, not a curve. This in combination with hint days before the exams makes it virtually impossible not to pass this class. Although, he is a tough grader, so it is tough to get an A. This guy is not a very good teacher, but he is entertaining and his grading scale is awesome.

dr. epstein is pretty good as far as a math professor goes. he tries to keep the class interesting with jokes. on our tests he let us use a whole piece of paper, front and back, as a note sheet, including the final. he also put sample tests in the library that were quite similar to the tests he gave. so, as long as you have some understanding of math, and study hard for tests, you will do well in this class. it helps if you already took calc ab in high school cause then you don't even have to go to class since the whole course is pretty much review. i would recommend eppy as a teacher to anyone who was pretty good at math.

I really thought that Dr. Epstein was a good teacher. They changed teachers on me, giving me him, and after reading the ratings for him, was almost ready to transfer out to a different teacher, but have no regrets. He did sometimes take more time than maybe needed on homework problems, but he would'nt make the homework assigned due until after he had explained the material completely. He is very consistent in his methods, and goes through ever step, writing it all out on the board. Although it may seem annoying at first, it really helped to grasp the concepts if I was struggling. If you pay attention, and go to the class - which most people didn't, especially on fridays - you should do well. If you can't get at least a C, which is 50% up, then I would suggest taking up a different major or class anyway. His tests are also hard, but with a page of notes it should be no problem. He also doesn't allow calculators, but doesn't expect you to know what the numbers mean. You leave them in the form they were derived, and you're given full credit. He also does collect and grade all homework he assigns, but I'd rather have homework collected and graded, then have my grade totally dependent on the test. Overall I thought that if you tried, went to his office hours if you had problems, and took full advantage of all resources he made available, anybody could pass this class with a fair grade.

His tests are hard as hell, gives homework every night, but if you can follow his lectures and have decent study habbits you should do alright. I was scared about taking him but I didn't really have any option. I ended up learning far more in that class than any other math class I've taken. Yes he is a hard teacher, but his curve is EXTREMELY leniant and he does present the material very well.

Epstein assigns homework every day to most often to be due the next day. He's very flexible with hw due dates and test dates. He chooses the week for the exam, and lets the classes vote on what day of that week that they want. There are only three exams and the final, no quizes. He teaches in a casual, comical way which makes it better than just mundane lecturing. He's often cheesy, but if it makes Calculus better, then thats ok with me. He's thurough in his explainations and if you dont understand he is more than willing to explain it. He is also very available in his office hours and is easy to talk to. My suggestion, dont be daunted by his physical appearance or by his cheezy-ness. Just take the class and allow his little jokes to help ya with Calc.

First off, he's an odd fellow but my friends and I got a kick out of him. His grading scale is sooooo forgiving which is probably due to his tough midterms and final. You will learn a lot and get a decent grade if you pay attention and do most of the hw. I recommend him.

Well, Epstein is a really quirky old man. It's often humorous in class because he says the oddest things. But really he ends up not being that bad of a prof. He let us have an entire sheet of notebook paper for a cheat sheet for all the midterms and exam, plus he tells you what kind of problems will be on the test. The homework ends up really getting tedious at the end of the quarter. But his grading scale is to die for, of course it's necessary. Not the best prof, but a very passable class. Don't fear taking him.

Eppstein is not the devil that everyone makes him out to be. He is a very hard grader, and his tests are difficult.. but hell its math so just deal with it. Eppstein presented the math more clearly than anyone has ever done so for me. I could easilly go home after his lecture and complete all his homework without too much difficulty. I would sy if you want to learn the math and get a decent grade take eppstein, just be will to put up with some pretty lame jokes... hey the lighten the mood.. I guess.

He presents the material to a questionable degree. He likes to teach from theory, not a lot of examples. He does almost all of it off the top of his head, it is quite amazing. Test hints, so it is clear what we are required to know. I found the tests to be fair and the curve forgiving. He does have that odd sense of humor, which I enjoyed.

I am not sure why Epstein has received such negative ratings. I thought his class was taught really quite well. Pros: His quirky sense of humor will definitely keep you interesed in what is going on. Lectures exactly follow the book. Thus if you read the chapter before he lectures on it, everything will make sense. He allows one notecard cheat sheet for each of the three exams and an entire page for the final exam. He must have changed his habits, but homework was always due AFTER he lectured on the relevant topics. Cons: All I can say is if you don't read the appropriate section of the book before going to his class, you will be completely lost. I did this once and had no idea what was going on because he often goes into a lot of details, he will also do proofs on rare occaison, and you won't know where anything is leading. Overall: I would say take Epstein if you get him. His lectures aren't creative, but his sense of humor is good and the class/exams are straightforward. Some people complained about the difficulty of the class, but there were lots of A/B's on each test since he writes the grades on the board. Make sure to do the homework as it counts toward your grade and also read each section before he lectures on it and you will do fine.

Epstein is mostly just... out there. He doesn't really seem in touch with the rest of the world, and much less with understanding his students problems. He's not horrible by any means, but he doesn't do a great job making the material understandable. He grades every homework assignment, giving out homework after most classes. He tells you what each question on the midterms (but not the final) is about, so that makes studying easier.

Oh gosh, just don't... That is the best advice I can give.

This guy is just weird. He's an ok teacher, sometimes the assignments are a little too long. He has a "hint day" the class period before a midterm and reviews what will be on it. The tests are reasonably hard, but he usually ends up curving the grades a lot. Don't let him fool you, though, his finals are really hard. I'm sure there are better teachers out there.

Stay away from this guy. His lecture is pretty much useless because he spends the entire time proving the theorms we were given in the book, and very little if any time at all on examples. I basically had to teach myself from the book. He has homework every day, which he grades, but it usually wasn't too long. His tests weren't that hard, and he would actually tell you what topic each problem would be on, but he gives very little or no partial credit, making it difficult to get a good grade on tests. His final wasn't that difficult and consisted mainly of stuff from previous tests.

If you want an A in 143, DO NOT take this guy. He only gave out 3 A- 's in my whole section. Don't ask me how, but I lucked out. I found him to be a horrible prof. Most of his lectures he did ridiculously long proofs instead of giving examples or explaining concepts. Homework is assigned every night, I found almost half of them were not covered in class (so you have to learn from the book...just about impossible). He does give "hint days" before exams, though, so you know what to expect. Partial credit is basically nonexistent. Mess up with one little calculation in the beginning, and zero credit. avoid epstein.

He doesnt teach you what you need to know. He teaches you that the stuff you need to know works, not how to use the actual information. A poor excuse for a teacher. He doesnt grade on a curve and his tests are difficult. I would definitly recommend taking a different teacher or just avoiding math this quarter if he's your last choice.

Epstein has the ability to be a good teacher if he was clearer with the material and spent a bit more time explaining what was coming up. I am not very good with learning on my own. If you are, good for you. You should feel right at home with him. If not, stay away! Bad things can and will happen to you.

He has a lousy sense of humor and is average in presenting material. He grades homework, but his tests are not very difficult.

Knows his stuff and seems interested in making sure we understand it too. Tests are not hard, the homework is but he's good about getting it graded and back to us and is available for help.

From previous evaluations, Epstein doesn't seem to be to popular. I thought I received an A in his differential equations course, but I got stuck with a B+. Anyhoot...Epstein was more than a decent professor. He knew his material and went over his tests the day before the tests. Homework was graded fairly and he offered a little extra credit. I think the higher division courses you take, the higher quality the professor becomes. I know other professors who make it tough on students taking lower division courses and then ease up as the students move on to higher division courses.

I didn't actually take the course, I graded for him. Based on how he treats his graders, DO NOT TAKE HIM OR GRADE FOR HIM. He wanted the homework graded so he could return it to the students before their exam. Seems fair right? NOT when you don't give any assignments for two weeks and then hand the grader ten assignments which must be alphabetized and graded by tommorrow!!! Even if you had a midterm to study for. He repeated this all quarter. His solutions to the homework were fairly well organized though. I felt my lousy job as a grader was mainly because he didn't allow me enough time to do a better job.

This guy is a moron. Outside of the sweeping curve, 50% is a C which is needed, this guy is horrible. One of the worst teachers i have ever had. You have no idea what he is talking about most of the time. You spend more time making fun him for having one eye closed the entire time, or maybe for never buttoning his shirt correctly. But dont hold that against him he may button it right, its just his huge gut undoes it halfway through class. If you have to take him, just make sure to laugh at his jokes, even though you dont even know they are jokes half the time. Damn i hate this guy.

"Welcome to my class! I am looking forward to a mutually rewarding experience as we explore the world of linear differential equations together this quarter." This is the first thing on his Syllabus. This should have been enough of a warning to get up and leave, wait until next quarter. But no, I stayed. BIG MISTAKE. Between his lack of teaching skills, his closed, lazy, freaky, eye, his unbuttoned shirt [though I think this is because of his huge gut], and the 20+ page take home midterm he gives, THIS GUY IS AWFUL. The book is also awful so you are screwed pretty much if you are a slacker and dont study all the time. His final is a bunch of crap he did not teach you[Triangular Arrays? WTF?] and he does not keep homework up to date. He blamed the grader but we got back HW#13 when we just turned in HW#25, several weeks behind. Not having homework to look at helps a lot when studying for an exam. He was 5-10 minutes late for every class which meant that the lecture went 5-10 min overtime. This sucks when you have class afterwards and he decides to assign homework or finally make a futile point about his pointless lecture in those 5-10 minutes. This guy FAILS ON EVERY LEVEL AS A TEACHER. Ditto to the other review: "fuck this guy. fuck him right in the ear."

I have no idea where to even begin. I'm going to completely ignore his physical appearence and how presents himself to the class, so his unkept appearenece is nothing in compared to how he teaches. First, he showed up late, everyday, and went over class time, everyday. He assigns, collects, and grades homework, everyday. Except you will not get back homework number 10 until week number 8. He can not teach any better than the book. So if you can't understand the book, you will not understand him, and vice-versa. Some of the homework assignments took 3 hours to do, and it is graded very rigidly. His tests are hard, and if you think his homework grading policy is strict, then he grades tests like a nazi drill instructor. he is stingy with partial credit.THERE IS 2 GOOD THINGS. He tells you exactly what will be on both midterms (not the final), and there is a crazy ass curve (46/100 was a C-). Overall I would say avoid this guy. He can not teach, doesnt return papers in a timely manner, and is a harsh grader

For most of the people that took Epstein, he was a joke. I thought he tried to make the class interesting (even if it was in a dorky math way) and so I have to give him credit for that. He assigns a lot of homework that he does collect and his classes always go over in time. Don't feel bad about leaving though because he always recaps at the beginnning of the next class. His curve is huge but his test are hard so most people get what they usually get in math classes.

I had Gary Epstein for all my calculus and all my advanced engineering math classes. His tests were tough, but fair if you studied. His office was always open during published hours and he was more than willing to spend whatever time was necessary in order to make clear any confusion that may have arisen. He would often stay way past his nominal ‘closing’ hour to help either me or another student out. Any person that found his tests too difficult, or his dress not up to their standard should take stock of themselves. He endured personal tragedies that most of us have never had to experience—and he didn’t bring it to class with him! Next time you feel you have to badmouth somebody—learn some facts first.

This guy knows his stuff, but we had to do some weird stuff. He made us simulate Fourier transforms in TurboBASIC. WTF? Pretty graphs are nice and all, but he could have just shown us some slides. Oh well. Overall, an A prof.

Fuck him! Fuck him right in the ear!

DO NOT TAKE THIS INSTRUCTOR! He mumbles through his lectures and has no clear outline to his class. He uses his left hand to erase part of the notes on the board and then just writes over it. He does not present any of the theory behind what you are doing and his style and vocabulary does not match up with the book, so there is no help there. He grades very harsh on silly mistakes (I recieved 15 point out of 50 for a problem where the only mistake I made was 1-2=1 instead of -1, I dropped the negative, the mistake carried through the problem and offset my answer and that's how he justified my low score). He only looks at the class through one eye (creepy!) and gave us a (no lie) 20 hour take home test, mine was 20 pages long. He does not return your work in a timely fashion and for our first test, where there were several take home parts, different students had different due dates for different parts because he would only have some of the tests graded. It was a mess. I have never advised anyone to not take a proffessor, I usually just go over strengths and weaknesses of the instructor and advise people that if you match up, go for it, but this guy is not worth it. Take someone else!

I would NEVER WISH THIS PROFESSOR UPON ANYBODY!!! Absolutely horrible. We had a brand new first edition book this quarter, completely different from the other 318 sections. He had absolutely no agenda of what he was going to teach from the book. The stuff that he did try and teach us was vague at best. And if you tried to look to the book for help...good luck, it was just about as bad as he was. He gave an ungodly amount of homework to do, which I would think would be so bad, but he gave it to us when we also had about thirteen different parts of a take home midterm to do everynight. Homework is not returned in a timely fashion at all. And I don't know if it was the grader or if it was Epstein who told the grader to grade in this fashion, but I would get points marked off on problems on the homework and it wouldn't say why I missed them. In class midterms were fair, just don't make any mistakes or he he'll rip you apart on them because he gives crap for partial credit. If he ever gives you the opportunity to have a take home midterm, decline it. We got stuck doing a 15 to 20 hour take home midterm and I still got a 70% on it. To me that kinda says a lot when I got a 97 on the first test and a 100 on the third. As far as the final goes. Re-freakin-diculous. The final did not test the students on how well they knew the material in the course, it tested them on how well we could cope with the curveballs that he threw us. I would recommend staying away from this guy like there is no tomorrow. If you already have him, drop it, if he's the only teacher teaching the class, take it next quarter, if this is the last class you need to graduate, stay another quarter. It's just not worth it.

this guy doesnt give a shit about you. he gave 2-5 hour homework assignments, and then graded them like a nazi. i once got no credit even though i did half the assignment. i probably averaged 5/20 no matter how much time i put into them. the quarter isnt' over yet, but i just took a midterm, and figured commenting here would be better than goign on a murderous rampage. this midterm was a problem that took him 2 hours of class time to complete. we had 50 minutes to do it. i spent half an hour on the first part out of 9, because the algebra was so messy. each part depends on the part before it, so skipping a problem isnt an option. i knew how to do everything asked on the test, but it was a 2-hour test, not one hour, so i got less than halfway through. all his in-class tests are like this. his take home tests are worse. he gives you a week at most to do them, and the time you will need to put in ranges from 10 to 30 hours. this class sucks no matter who you take, but epstein made it so much worse. its an upper division 4 unit class, and i have learned nothing useful yet. its all busy work. avoid this man at all costs. he will screw you over not only in his class, but in all your other classes too.

Epstein consistently showed up to class 5 minutes late and would lecture 5 minutes late at the end of the period to make up for it. You couldn't leave though because he'd save the stuff he was putting on the tests for the end of class. Homework was over material that hadn't been lectured on yet, making it impossible. Take home midterms which was almost nice, except each of the 3 take homes took an average of 15 hours to complete in a group we had formed (which wasn't allowed by the teacher, but impossible to go without.) Useless in office hours, fell asleep when I was in his office once.

avoid if at all possibe. had us do a test where you have to go up and ask him if you got the right answer for the first problem, if you didnt, then you had to go back and keep working untill you got it right. so the whole test hinges on the first problem. it took about 2/3 of the class 40 minutes out of the 55 we had to get the right answer, almost no one finished. class average 50%. so know matter how much of the material you were prepared for, it was for nothing if you didnt get the first problem. bastard!

Taking this instructor is like being in a Twilight Zone episode. You just can