Prof Grassl is a great guy. He is extremely helpful in his office hours. His lectures can be a little long winded, and he may make a few mistakes in them. But he is a great guy, and very understanding, he let one of my classmates retake a test because she had been sick, and he raised one of my grades on my midterm from a D to a B simply because I went to talk to him.
Freshman
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2014
What a helpful nice guy. Office hours are incredibly helpful. He is fair and cares about his students. He will ask about your life and interests in office hours. I really liked him.
Freshman
A
Required (Support)
Dec 2014
Very effective lecturer and easy to follow along. Tests are worth 20% of your grade with a total of 4 tests (3 midterms and 1 final). **If you want an A, all you need to do is don't bullshit the homework.** I'm not kidding. I studied maybe 1-2 hours the morning before each midterm and managed to get a hundred and three 95+ scores. There's a homework quiz every Thursday where you copy down the past week's homework problems. This is worth 20% of your grade, so don't goof that up. Study groups are optional (I chose not to join one for this class). If you decide to not join one as well, then use this website:
www.slader.com/textbook/9780321587992-thomas-calculus-twelfth-edition/
It contains answers for some questions. Don't just copy shit down; you'll just end up screwing yourself over. Again, do all of the homework (properly) and you'll get an A.
MATH 143
Freshman
A
Required (Support)
Feb 2015
Take Grassl! I'm pretty good at math, but if I wasn't there's no one else I'd rather have than Grassl. He does a lot of problems in class with a docucam so you can learn how to do problems step by step which I found really helpful. He's also very knowledgeable and is very willing to help you if you every have a question. We had quizzes once a week but they were problems directly from the homework AND we were allowed to use our homework and basically copy the problems for full credit. The study guides for the tests and final were extremely useful. If you can do every problem on those perfectly, you can get 100% on the tests. Do your homework, practice the problems on the study guides, and go to Grassl if you need help. If you do all three, you will do very well in this class.
MATH 221
Freshman
N/A
Required (Support)
Mar 2014
Dr. Grassl is the sweetest teacher I have yet had at Cal Poly. Super understanding and always willing to help. Homework quizzes every week, but you are allowed to use your homework during the quizzes and the questions are from the homework, so pretty much an easy A if you do your homework every week. 3 exams, one which is take home. He gives you study guides, which are very straight forward and also one final. Homework quizzes, exams, and the final are all worth 20% . Lectures are kinda boring, but his grading and willingness to help are great. He wants every student to do well. You won't regret taking Dr. Grassl!
Junior
C
Required (Major)
Mar 2016
This was my second time taking business calc, i failed the first time around. For some reason I've just never gotten math and I hated that it was necessary for business students because it's been holding me back since i've been here. TAKE GRASSL IF YOURE IN A SIMILAR BOAT! the class is simple, broken down into 5 categories each worth 20%. weekly quizzes on the homework which you can use your homework on so thats basically a guaranteed 20% of your grade right there (pro tip: sign up for chegg it'll have all the questions with answers and solutions). 3 midterms and a final. 1 of the midterms and a final had take home components too which really help. In all honestly he's not the best "teacher" in that he can be hard to understand but he's a super understanding, sweet, helpful guy who wants everyone to succeed. Highly highly highly recommend taking him.