Grishchenko, Svetlana  

Lana is a Really great teacher i really recemond her.... She really likes to help the Srugling students... i love her so much... she is really great she helps me after hours.... Her russian accent is so adorable... its hard to understand but i love her n she does a good job of explaining the material.... so take her class if you like......

Lana is one of my favorite professors to ever have at Cal Poly. I was in my last quarter and needed one more area B and I thought Math 112 would be easy and fun. Lana is one of the most interactive professors I have ever taken a class with and her genuine interest in student well being and understanding was incredible. You can tell she really only wants you to understand the material and succeed. If you go to her with any problems, she will work through them with you (math or life problems!). Her accent is not hard to understand at all, I actually think it helped me process the material because my brain grasped her words more than someone without an accent. 10/10 recommend taking this class with her.

This was the best professor that I have ever had. She is the nicest, most understanding teacher and person I have ever met. She's awesome! Her jokes are hilarious and her stories about Russia are great. Highly recommend!!

Easy easy easy. If you are one of those CLA people dreading taking a math course, take Math 112. Just show up to class, do the homework, and you'll barely have to study for the midterms and quizzes. The course is broken into about 6 quizzes (pulled straight from the HW), about 14 HW assignments, 1 individual presentation on a historical math period or person, and 1 group presentation on any math topic you want. There are also 2 midterm exams and a cumulative final. Dr. Grishchenko is super nice and will honestly try and make sure you have a good grade in the class as long as you show a pulse. The stuff you learn in this course will actually help your basic analytic skills for other math classes, so if you take this course, you might go from hardcore math aversion to maybe actually liking the subject. The course goes over the history of mathematics, different sorts of number systems (Arabic, Mayan, Egyptian, Babylonian, etc.), set theory, how to convert numbers into binary form, and how to convert numbers from different bases. There's no textbook, just a fat packet you buy from the bookstore, which contains all the homework and lecture materials. Take 112, it will help your GPA.

I can not say enough wonderful things about Lana. She really cares for her students and wants them to succeed. She offers extra credit by volunteering to do homework problems on the board and also at the end of the quarter by making a binder of all assignments covered in class. The binder is worth 5%! Their were 3 midterms, each having about 15 questions. She gives partial credit too. The final wasn't so bad either. It was only 25 questions and she gives you different times to take it, if you don't want to take it at the scheduled class time. Lana's only weakness is teaching material in class. I found her to go a little slow at times, even when math is extremely difficult for me!!! But doing all the extra credit will help your grade and so does the fact that in her classes a 65% is considered a C-.

Lana is a great teacher. she is really understanding with students who are having problems in her class. She takes late homeworks if you talk to her, not like other teachers. On her midterm she grades them really careful so she could give you points if you're in the right track in trying to get the right answer. She gives points on the question even if you try to answer them. Her midterms are based on the homework and some questions on the chapter review and she even tells you similar problems that you'll have in the midterm. DONT FORGET TO TAKE SI WORKSHOP IT's REALLY HELPFUL, which is the one unit class. Her final is all 3 midterms combined. It was a long final but it was a easy. Ah! her accent can be a problem. Because on her lecture she doesn't explain the subject really well. You can get confuse sometimes if you don't pay atention all the way. Do the homework its worth it. Participate on the board because she gives a lot of points. And the 3 highest grades don't take the final. GOOD LUCK!

I would not recommend this teacher because I did not like her methods of teaching. I pretty much had to teach everything to my self. Her style of teaching was to pass out a bunch of worksheets and then go over them. She didnt take time to explain the steps, she just assumed that the students knew what they were doing. She took attendance every day so you had to go to class. She also collected most of the homework and had each problem graded.

this lady is the worst teacher at poly. She is half the time confused when she is teaching the material. How can a student possibly understand her with her russian accent.Claims that she tries to help students but she really doesn't. STAY AWAY FROM LANA! Avoid this lady at all costs!

This class was a major review for me- I just took it for GE, not to actually learn anything, and it worked out very well for me. Lana is a decent teacher- she is kind of hard to understand sometimes because of her accent, but you get used to it after a while. She does take attendance, which sucks, but the class is only an hour, and i just did that nights homework or reading for another class and it was fine. If you already know the concepts of the class, go ahead and take her, but if you need some brush up i would go with someone a little easier to understand.

Lana is a great math professor and I would highly reccomend that if you can get her, take her for any of your math courses. Even though her accent is hard to understand for some, I sat in the front and heard her perfectly the whole time. She really goes through every topic with great detail and gives all of her students well made packets on tougher subjects which helped for the exam and sometimes she would let you use one of them. Lana also really cares about her students be taking time out of her own weekends to have little review sessions in her office which there, she would give sample problems right from the midterms, so go to those if you can. Just remember to do your homework, as she does grade them, and all the A's do not have to take the final exam but I have been hearing that she will barter with you if you do not want to take the final. Oh, keep your binder nice and organzied becuase its worth 10 extra credit points at the end and when you go up on the board during the combos, that is 3 more added points!!

Lana's a really nice person. She offers some extra credit durring the quarter, and it you study the review she gives you the tests are easy. If you have a good enough grade at the end of the quarter she sometimes offers you the choice to take the final or walk with your grade. She does have a strong accent, I found it easy to understand after a few days, id say if you still have trouble with it by drop deadlind...find another teacher. Get on her goodside and you will be fine.

Lana was a good teacher, the class was mostly touch up for me. He accent is a little hard to understand sometimes but she is pretty funny every day. Homework can be done the night before, you get the whole quarters work the first day so up to you when to do it. Class before a quiz or midterm is a combo day where you go over your homework for that week. (Get extra credit if you go up to the board and try to anwser questions, even if you get it wrong.) There are 5 quizzes which are 2 questions each, pretty easy as long as you did the homework.(easy 10 points every week). There are 3 midterms plus the final, if you study for them should be alright. She offered our class whatever grade we had at the time before the final, if we took it we did not have to take the final, but she does knock it down a 1/3 of a grade, so if you had a B she would offer you a B-. Also if you do take the final she will give you extra credit for your binder if it is in order and all there. Her grading is very fair she gives partial credit for homework and tests even if you get wrong. You get to pick time of your final out of all her class times so if you are not liking when you have a final or want to spread them out a little bit this was good. She does take attendence EVERY CLASS at the end so you can't miss casue it affects your grade some, but also if you come to class get easy points for attendence. I would take her again just make sure you keep up in class.

Lana is such a great teacher. She has a cute accent, and always making jokes. She teaches really well, and gives lots of examples similar to quizes. Her tests are pretty challenging, but if you do the homewrok assigned and go through your notes, you'll do fine. The class was very easy for me. Office hours helped a lot too. She is always willing to help you and give you sample problems to practice. Her accent is pretty thick and sometimes hard to understand, but she is willing to repeat everything and talk slower. There is homework assigned for every section and the TA goes through every problem so don't just write anything down. She is a fair grader and gives points for at least trying a problem. She is a great math teacher and would recommend her for 116.

she is really a fair teacher it may seem like she grades really hard and marks you off for every mistake on tests and homework but in the end she makes sure you get the grade you deserve. I would definitly recomend this class to anyone.

At first her accent was hard to understand but the more you hear it, the more you get used to it. She is a fair teacher and tries to explain everything clearly. Do the practice tests she gives up right before the real test because that is basically exactly the same type of questions that will be on the real test. Overall she is a good teacher and a fair grader.

Lana is a very funny teacher who loves math. She is very helpful at office hours and is nice as long as you put in the effort. Class requirements are laid out. All homework, quizes, and tests are known and dated in the class schedule given out the first week. no tricks. extra credit helps. I'm taking another math class with her.

She can be a hit and miss sometimes...really hard to judge. The material she presents on the board is very slow moving (which I liked) but then following along with her handouts and then taking the exams had no correlation. If you are one of those obnoxious kids that freaks out whenever you have a teacher with an accent that is from a foreign country, dont take Svetlana because you'll just make fun of her and annoy the rest of the kids in class anyways. She makes full effort if you go to her office hours but it is just frusterating when you need a C- or higher to pass on to Math 117 and you're a few points shy. No budging on this one...goodluck

What a horrible teacher! She's more anal about people showing up for class than understanding the material. She just a big joke. You're better off teaching yourself. I couldn't even understand a thing she said. If you want something to laugh at for 10 weeks, by all means take this professor.

Lana is definitely an interesting woman. She always has something interestingly funny to say in class. She is well organized and provides all the notes for you, which makes studying and homework a breeze. She does have an accent, but it definitely does not get in the way of her instruction. If you must be absent for something and you give her prior notice, she will work with you. If you are planning on skipping class a lot, I wouldn't reccomend this class because you will miss a lot. All in all not a bad teacher. I think a lot of people have something nasty to say about her because the transition to college is not easy, but this class is definitely manageable if you stay on top of it.

Lana is a really good teacher. She is very willing to help any student who needs help. Her accent can be distracting at first but she speaks English well. She is a cute lady, always looks very wake and ready to teach. She really wants her students to do well. She gives out extra-credit as well. She writes and prints out all of the notes for you. I highly suggest her, very nice lady. She is a hard grader and I saw her get mad once. Overall very good.

shes not bad but sure as hell not good. she cares more about attendence than actually learning the course material.

First of all, this teacher does not follow through with what she says. For instance, on the first day of class she told us that she would drop our lowest quiz grade, but didn't include this on the syllabus. At the very end of the quarter she repeated the same thing and said we'd have our lowest quiz grade. However, two days after saying this she decided not to do it anymore saying, "It's not on the syllabus. I might have said what I said, but it's not on the syllabus." Another time she went back on her word was when she told the class that we could have a notecard on the test, and ended up crossing 3/4 of everything I had written on my notecard. All I did was write down the formulas and she ended up crossing everything out and handing it back to me. So basically, don't trust what she says. She has a thick accent that can get pretty annoying at times and she can make some pretty dumb off the topic comments. Make sure to attend class all the time cuz she takes attendance EVERYTIME.

First of all, this teacher does not follow through with what she says. For instance, on the first day of class she told us that she would drop our lowest quiz grade, but didn't include this on the syllabus. At the very end of the quarter she repeated the same thing and said we'd have our lowest quiz grade. However, two days after saying this she decided not to do it anymore saying, "It's not on the syllabus. I might have said what I said, but it's not on the syllabus." Another time she went back on her word was when she told the class that we could have a notecard on the test, and ended up crossing 3/4 of everything I had written on my notecard. All I did was write down the formulas and she ended up crossing everything out and handing it back to me. So basically, don't trust what she says. She has a thick accent that can get pretty annoying at times and she can make some pretty dumb off the topic comments. Make sure to attend class all the time cuz she takes attendance EVERYTIME.

She gave good examples on the board, gave out handouts and came to class prepared. I sort of felt I had to teach myself the math, but her examples in class did help. She has a strong Russian accent, so the first day of class you think... should I stay in it? will i be able to understand her? you will with patience. She is very generous when she grades tests and also gives students extra credit if they need it.

Lana is a very nice lady and really wants to do a great job. I think people were too harsh on her about her accent, she is definitely not hard to understand and she is willing to help! You need to come to class every day, but hey, that's why we're here! She has the basic thing:hw, midterms, final. She always reviews the hw in class which is very helpful, I would recommend Lana.

Lana's pretty crazy, yet a really cool and good teacher. The acent is hard to understand at the begining but it gets better! Best Math teacher i have had at CPSU. I would reccommend her.

Lana was an awesome teacher. I had her for 116&117. She goes over the material in great details and makes the information seem more managable. Shes a goofy fun teacher and an extremly happy person. Her accent becomes easy to understand. You will have homework every class , a few quizzes, and 3 midterms and an optional final. I highly recommend Lana for Math 116 or 117.

lana is a great teacher. She is very understanding. If you have any trouble go to her office hours, she like to get to know her students. Do the problems on the board, it will help your grade more than you think!

This professor did everything she said she was gonna do. Yes she does have a russian accent, but any person can understand her. Blaming her accent is just a lame excuse for doing bad in the class. She does an excellent job of presenting all the material you need to know. she is oddly enough very enthusiastic about math. This class is very easy if you have any pre-algebra or algebra experience. Her quizzes are extremely easy. She does take attendence every class and she does assign homework which she regularly collects, but it's no big deal and it's easy. I highly recommend this professor for math 118.

Going to class is a pretty large waste of time. She explains things very complicated and wastes two hours of your time when you go. You'll notice a lot of people just staring around and not listening when in her class. But you have to go because she does take attendance unfortunately. I would recommend trying to find a different teacher. It is a do able class, but you do it all on your own. I never learned from her, i had to do all the work outside of class and my grade sufferred due to her inablility to teach you concepts.

Don

lana is good teacher. she does try to keep your attention in class. she stays on schedule. her weakness is presenting the material in class. i often didn't understand everything in her lecture. however i saw her during office hours and shes willing and excited to help you. shes patient and spends time with you until you understand it. the best part about her class is the top 3 students dont have to take the final. thats a big plus! plus her russian accent adds another dimension to the class which makes it interesting.

This teacher should not be teaching. She gets angry at times when you ask questions and does not present ideas well at all. She makes you do the homework with no explanation. Then she has students do a few homework problems. She attempts to explain those problems, then she moves on. If you try to ask questions or tell her you don't understand a concept she becomes angry with you and tends to not answer the questions. She has an inability to teach and a lack of compassion for students who struggle. At all costs try to get a different teacher, any other math teacher then her would have been better and a better use of my time. She wasted a quarter of my time and I wish these evaluations by other students would be more truthful.

Lana is a horrible teacher. She only teaches with the book example problems and does not answer any questions on the homework she assigns. Her lectures are unorganized and boring and if you want to pass the class you have to put in all the work yourself. Basically, I got an A because I had already taken Pre-calc in high school. I would not advise anyone to take this teacher. If you don't want a lot of work though, she does not assign much homework and stay on the last day of class because she tells you exactly what is on the final.

lana is a bomb math teacher and i would recommend her for any course. you don't have to be super smart to pass her class, just study with a partner for midterms and do the homework(its not that bad at all). She grades very nice and loves to listen to the students. And all the people that clowned on her accent don't realize that it makes her go slower and you can understand the material ALOT better.

Alright, I'm going to lay out the situation for ya'll: I was a 4th year English Major, hadnt taken math since her senior year in high school, put off math for 4 years and finally signed up for Lana's class. Was I scared? Yes. Did I remember even the basic concepts of Pre-Calc? NO! Did Lana save the day?? Yes she did, my friends. She went slowly, was always eager to answer questions, made lots of time for her students in office hours, and was an all around great lady. She made handouts for each concept we learned, which was also a bonus. Plus, she had study reviews for anyone who wanted extra help before the tests, and she even held some on the weekends (if our test was on a monday, for example), sacrificing her personal time for her students. And the best part of all: she played lets make a deal at the end of the quarter, by offering us the option of not taking the final, and accepting the grade we had earned thus far plus a minor penalty for missing the final. When she offered this girl a C+, I took it and run. I hope you all take from this little spiel the knowledge that if this math-deficient english major could pass this class, then you have nothing to fear!

Lana is a great teacher, her russian acsent scared me at first but i totally got used to it. she's super nice and will review anything you need help with! i think most of the other people are being way to harsh because if they think lana is a hard teacher, then they're pretty much screwed the rest of their college years.

I really liked her. Yes, her accent is a little crazy, but I thought it made her lectures more interesting, plus you get funny stories of her days in russia. This class was a VERY easy B... she clearly presents the information. The first day of class says she says the class will be hard and move really quickly. Dont let that scare you, I found it easy. She goes over everything over and over again and goes over the homework before you turn it in. She really cares. I would totally suggest taking her for math 118.

Lana is a good instructor overall and definitley presented course material in a clear way. Every once in while her accent will catch you off guard but it is generally not a problem. She is supportive of her students and will encourage them to go for the higher grade if she thinks that they can get it. This is the first time I've gotten an "A" in a math class since 9th grade and she had a big part in it. If accents don't throw you off, I would recommend her as an instructor.

Accent can be hard to understand, the homework takes forever, but you can get away with doing about half of it. She sometimes lets you decide to take final or walk away with grade if your grade is good enough. Trust me, walk away with grade if possible...final takes forever and is tough.

Lana is sooo incredibly cute!!! She is so sweet and always has some of the funniest things to say. I really enjoy the way she teaches and is always enthusiastic and smiling. She even jokes about how back in Russia she was called smiley because she would always smile, yet there, that was an odd thing to do, so she moved out here. She is probably the most happy and excited teacher I have ever had or seen on any campus. Her lessons are well planned with hand out notes and extra time to go over homework. I wish more teachers were like her. I would even like to start a petition to get her to teach Calculus 1 + , so then I can have her again. Math 118 with her, has homework which is collected at the time of the tests, and is easy to follow since she went over it already in class. If you ever have a question stop by her office she is always happy to help especially before a test, it really helps. I will always recommend her as a precalculus teacher, SHE IS AWESOME!!!!

Lana is an awesome professor! She is not only super sweet, she also has a really cute Russian accent. Lana explains everything really clearly and even hands out the notes so you barely have to write anything! If there's a problem you didn't get on the hw, no sweat; she sets aside time to answer anyone's hw questions before a test. There's only 4 tests, all of which are pretty easy. This is in comparrison to pre-calc in highschool when I barely got a B. So right there, that says something! I also must say she has the best incentive: if you're one of the top 3 students in the class, then you don't have to take the final. I would take her again anytime without a doubt!

Lana is extremely fair and once you get a grip on her accent, the material is covered clearly. Don't be afraid to ask for help in that class! She's always willing to help you out if you show an interest and really cares about her students. I've never been all that outstanding in math during high school and I got a high A...what does that tell you!

Lana is a nice woman, but she did not always present information clearly, and it had nothing to do with her accent. I think I would have really struggled in this class if I had not taken almost the exact same class my senior year in high school. It is an intensive math course so it is pretty easy to get behind. Be sure and study for the first test--its a placement test on really easy algebra--because you can replace the score you receive with a midterm later on. I found her tests to be pretty hard--alot of the questions were more difficult than the homework problems. She give's quizes almost every week and they are easy points as long as you do the homework. She takes role everyday and gives participation points if you do homework problems on the board. At the end of the quarter the three people with the highest grades get to skip the final. I did the homework and got A's and B's on quizes and tests and was able to get out of taking the final.

Awesome professor, presented the material very clearly and was always organized. Pretty tough grader, but she's very fair. Go to her office hours because she is extremely helpful. This is not an easy class - it requires a lot of studying. If you can keep up with your homework, take good notes and really take advantage of her office hours, you will do great. I would definitely recommend Lana for a professor.

Lana is an awesome math teacher. She presented the information very clearly. The only hard part were her tests and some quizzes so you gotta make sure and study. People say her accent is not understandable but those people are ignorant and impatient. At first it may seem a little thick but then you realize that it's only when she tries to pronounce certain words! I very much enjoyed her class and would take her again if she taugth higher level courses. Oh...and her grading policy is very fair, in the end!

This is the hands down worst teacher at Cal Poly. You'd think she is a sweet little russian lady with a crazy accent until you ask her a question about your test or anything relating to your grade and all of a sudden, "BLAHHH i am Russian!!!" She writes notes you will understand and then you think its easy, then she writes all these trick question on the tests you woudld only know if you memorized the book front to back..Knowing the concepts isn't enough cause you have to have everything word for word. If you accidentally skip a step in your problem she gets confused and thinks you cheated to get your answer because she is incompetent to follow your work, and even if you have all your steps she goes off one assumption on how you did it and if its not the one she wants you get shafted. If you dont do everything straight to perfection you are gonna get eaten up. This teacher should go teach elementary school instead.

I'm going to put this short and sweet. I took her Winter 2005. I went to class and listened to her lectures. I put MAYBE 4 hours a week on homework. I got a B. Fantastic teacher; presents the material in a way that it clings to your brain. I really won't forget what I learned in 118.

Lana is probably the worst professor at Cal Poly. She's not a bad lady or anything, but she is just an overall bad teacher. The horrible thing is, she just can't help it. She just doesn't understand how to teach and she never grasps the students attention. When she lectures, it is like she is talking and teaching herself. She never involves that class at all. She makes a lot of mistakes and you never know if you can trust her when she's attemting to solve a problem. All through high school I got an A in all my math classes. The only reason I pulled off a C in her class is because I sat down every night and tought myself the material. It took up a lot of time, and I think I could have got a better grade if I had a different math 118 teacher.

She has been a great teacher. She is always there when students need her. She makes things easy to understand and helps out indviduals as much as possible. She is fun, all be it a little crazy some mornings. I have realy enjoyed her class a hope this helps someone choose the right class.

She overall is a horrible teacher. Im serious, if you can help it, take a different math section that doesn't have her teaching it. The hw is easy enough but nothing she ever teaches in class is on the tests. The test is made up of questions you can only answer if you read the book entirely on your own. The test questions have a lot of tricks in them and you make one little mistake and you lose all credit. DONT TAKE THIS TEACHER. oh yeah.. her accent sucks too.. "you know like math is easy to understand, but in russia, math understands you.. you know?"

She's not a difficult teacher, it's easy enough to get an a in her class. Do all or your homework because she only collects some of them and never tells you which ones until that day. Homework helps your grade a lot, just make sure you attempt every problem or at least make it look like you did. Keep up with when it's assigned, that way you can do problems on the board and get extra credit, you get extra credit for having your binder organized at the end of the quarter and for attendance. I think i missed 2-3 classes so i missed one point for that. you get full credit if you miss less than 2. If you can't understand her accent within the 1st week, GET OUT. She has a tendency to get herself lost while doing a long, difficult problem and just never finishes it. Be sure to study for her tests, the one that i didnt study for i got a 68 on. i got a 95 and 86 on the others...so study.

Lana is super nice. She respects you when you show her respect. There's lots of opportunity for extra credit. Stay on top of homework because that's a good chunck of the grade. If you start struggling see her in office hours she'll work with you if she sees you're trying. The accent wasn't a problem for me but some people can't take it.

don't take lana if you are taking this class a joke, only to fufill a GE. if you have any intention of continuing in math, then she might be worth it. but overall too much work for a class that isn't important.

This teacher is ridiculously bad!! She does not know how to teach math!! I honestly don't think she knew what she was talking about half the time. If you ask her a question then most likely she will make you feel really dumb so be aware!! Her test are ridiculous.. there is only an hour to take a test that could take up to 2 hours. It is bad. Her homework is graded really easy, but most of the time what is on the homework is nothing like what she taught in class! I am sooo sorry if you can not get another teacher because she is really really bad! Seriously take another teacher for this course!!

I already had knowledge of the subject being taken, but often ended up confused in the way she taught the concepts. Missed class here and there, didn't always do so great on the exams, but managed a B. I recommend this professor if you're just trying to get the Gen Ed requirement done with and already understand the subject a bit.

her tests reviews dont help at all. her lectures are boring and she spends too much time on the easy material and often rushes thru the hard problems. half the class got Ds or lower on a midterm and instead of helping us with our problems she blamied it on us and said we had a "poor math background". horrible teacher, avoid at all costs

Grischenko was a good math teacher. She gave handouts each class period so you werent busy copying down all the notes during class. She explained everything thoroughly. There were 3 midterms each worth 20% of your grade, a final worth 25%, 25 homework assignments worth 5%, and 5 quizzes worth 10%. The workload was not hard even though she stresses that you constantly study for math. Overall, if you pay attention in class you should be fine. I recommend taking Grischenko.

Lana is really funny to listen to because sometimes she randomly yells out russian words and says math words with a heavy accent. Once you get used to it, it's not that hard to understand. She is not a fair grader, if you mess one thing up it seems like she hates you. You must go to class everyday, like you can't miss one. Her lectures aren't boring but sometimes its like wait, what did she say???? I wouldnt take her again.

I thought she was hilarious, she would rip on students...the information was a little boring, but what can you expect, its math. As long as you know the study guides you will do fine on the tests. If you took this course in high school you should be fine.

The first day I was pumped about the class... I thought her accent was funny and she seemed to care about her students and the subject. A few weeks into the class I realized she didn't care about her students except the few who knew the material before coming into the class. I've always been good in math but she just managed to confuse everything I knew, and anytime someone asked questions she seemed to just dismiss them. If you volunteer to do anything on the board your work will better be perfect or she will explain to the class how you wasted her and everyones time! If she's running short on time she'll just say " youuuu kno' from high school classs" and skip the material. If you already know the material top to bottom you will do fine, but don't expect to learn anything in this class.

This woman is kind of crazy. She was an ok professor and made you laugh sometimes. I went to her office hours a lot and she told me that I was only had B in the class becasue I was a good guesser...OK! She is crazy but take her if there is no one else to take, becasue you'll be entertained by her russian accent

At first it was hard to understand her. She was pretty nice though. If you have a bad grade going into the final and do better than your grade in your class you get the grade on the final. I had a C going into it and I came out with an A- The homework gets really tedious though. She gives you the notes most of the time which is nice, all you have to do is fill them in

This was my first quarter in college and i would like to say that she is a very good teacher. She grades extremely fair giving you extra credit opportunities for the midterms and for a neat binder at the end. She presents the material very well if you pay attention and listen closely. The only problem might be her accent which some students found a little difficult but I didnt think it was tough at all to understand. I would recommend her for any math 118 class.

No offense to her at all, but her accent made it hard for me to ever tell what she was talking about. Potentially a good professor, but not the best.

Overall I feel like she is kinda a hit or miss teacher. I couldnt really understand her most of the time because of her accent. Sometimes she fails to completley explain things but i think she is over all a moderate teacher. She does give extra credit at the end if you go to class everyday, so go because the extra credit will probably help your grade. The tests seem pretty easy, but she takes off a lot of little points that add up in the end so if your carefull in math than you should take her.

slutlana may be the worst professor at Cal Poly, wait let me retract that statement. she may be the worst professor in the entire california state university system. besides the fact that she barely speaks english, she has no soul. the woman could no more teach pre-calculus than hellen keller could read and write. she simply writes problems on the board, and expects you to teach yourself, so unless you feel as though teaching calculus is your nitch dont take the class. besides the fact that her class is a complete waist of 10 weeks, youll actually believe passing the class is a possibility, and youll try and try and try. only to realize all that hard work was never recognized because slutlana does not apprieciate anything but the correct answer. showing work means nothing unless ever number, sign, and notation is correct. you're etiher a 10 or a 0 to that lady. this woman actually publicly ridiculed me twice in front of then entire class when i would ask questions. hints the no soul part i explained earlier. besides the fact this lady is one mispronunciation away from deportation she is also the spawn of the late, great Joseph Stalin.

Although many people seem to have bad things to say about Lana, I think that she is a pretty good teacher. Like many other math teachers, she isn't the best, but she is very fair. I think that many people do bad in her classes because they either 1) Dont actually try to learn the information or 2) They actually don't understand it. If you have either of these problems you always have the option of getting help at her office hours. I personally would recommend Lana because her learning style suited me.

i came into this class really scared that she was going to be a horrible bitch of a professor, but lana is great! she is funny and always walks into the class smiling. here is some advice: sit in the front of the class. i sat in the back the first week and got a d on the first quiz. but then i started sitting in the front and have gotten A's or B's on all the rest of the quizzes. it really helps because then you can hear/understand her better. her notes are soooo easy to follow and really help for hw. her tests and quizzes are only off of the lecture notes which is nice because it makes studying a breeze. I have never taken precalculus before and now i feel really prepared to move on to higher math classes because of the way lana teaches. She grades tough but if you understand her lectures you will do fine. also, most kids in that class have taken precalc before and they are doing worse than i am which shows that she can actually teach if you want to learn. take her if you want to. she has an accent but it isnt bad at all. i really enjoy her class and she gives a lot of extra credit. good luck!

A relatively easy class if you've taken Pre-Calculus in high school and are looking to cover your GE. Her accent is not overly dificult to understand, although her pronunciation of "coefficient" sounds like "coifish." Anyway, the class consists of her lecturing in front of the class and doing problems. There's a quiz with only about 3 or 4 problems every week and the homework is lightweight. Then there are two tests which consist of 50% of the grade and a final for 30% of the grade. I'd take this class again as it is pretty easy, but she does take roll every day.

She does a very bad job of explaining the material. She expects everyone to automatically know what she is talking about. You go into her office hours to try and understand the material and all she does is give you a 2 second lecture on how to do it, she appears to care about you but only if you do well in the class. She favors her students so if you want to pass, get on her good side. Shes not horrible, but shes not great, she could improve by actully going over the homework before the test, but then again thats just me. She takes tons of partial credit off from quizzes and doesnt write the right answer. Make sure to write everything in the CORRECT NOTATION!!!!!!

cunt

lana was a fun and interesting teacher but she didn\'t really help me learn the material. yes i did get an A- but thats cuz i took precalc in high school. i had to fall back on my high school course a lot because her style was a little confusing. don\'t get me wrong i would take her again because it was fun and made me wanna go to class but she definitely wasn\'t the best at presenting the materail

If you can get over the fact that her grammar is sketchy, Lana\'s a great teacher. As long as you try and keep talking with her, she\'s going to be more than willing to help you pass this class.

Lana is awesome. She has a Russian accent, but she's still really easy to understand. Plus her grammar and accent is funny and makes the whole class laugh all the time. She pokes fun at her self and sometimes students in class and its funny. She's really knows her stuff too. Her tests can be hard but they are very straight forward and very similar to hw and quizzes. No surprises. She makes math a little more entertaining. Always comes in smiling and happy which makes math better too. If you pay attention, study, and go to a few office hours you'll do fine.

LOVE her! shes so cute with her little russian accent. and is a really good professor. she always keeps class interesting with her funny little anecdotes. the only thing about lana is you HAVE to go to her class (which is good and bad) she takes attendance almost everyday and at the end of the quarter will give those who missed three days or less an extra credit opportunity. her quizzes and tests are fair. overall great teacher. i really recommend her

She has a Russian accent, which is cool - but sometimes that can be a roadblock when (if you're like me) you have a hard enough time understanding math in the first place and then you have a difficulty understanding the teacher. Overall it wasn't bad though, she speaks English very well. She teaches the content very well, she goes over everything and you can ask her questions pretty easily. Her quizzes aren't too difficult and neither are her test, but you have to STUDY EVERYTHING. There are lectures that you print online and fill out during class with practice problems on them, and you have to go over ALL of those practice problems and understand every single one of them. That way there won't be any curveballs when you're taking the class. That was my problem and why I didn't do better in the class. Overall a good teacher, very willing to help during office hours!

So I know that everyone who writes on Polyratings is on one end of the spectrum - either they hate the professor or absolutely love them so you don't get a very accurate idea of what to expect, but honestly, everything about this professor is very true. That being said, she is a nice person, and can be helpful one-on-one but as a math professor with multiple classes, she is terrible. At the beginning of the quarter I was fine with her, and I gave her some slack because she's Russian. But then as the material got more complex I was failing or almost failing every quiz even though I knew the material. I started going into office hours multiple times a week, but she was more focused on helping her calculus students than me, and I'm convinced she confused me more than if I just hadn't gone in. She also messed up all the time, getting wrong answers in notes and homework and if we asked for help on study guides or quizzes she could barely do them herself. Luckily I didn't have to move on to Calculus but if you do. DO NOT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR.

She is not helpful at all and very hard to understand. Precalc should be easy when you are good at math and I might fail this course. Her office hours are not helpful and her quizzes and test are difficult because she really never teaches the material. Good luck if you get stuck with her like I will next quarter.

Dr.G is an adequate professor. Some people dislike her because she teaches too fast. There are some time where she assumes we remember all the material from high school, but it isn't too big of a problem. If you study the lecture notes in class and go over the practice problems, you should be good. Overall, Dr.G is a very sweet person who is always happy and energetic, and she is a nice professor. If you think math is easy, and you are good at studying, TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HER! Even if you are not that good at math, still take the class, you'll be fine.

On the first day, Lana seemed nice and funny. I was hopeful and thought I would enjoy the class. But after a few lectures, I couldn't stand that class. Lana doesn't know how to explain her work, she just writes the notes for you to copy down, but I didn't understand a bit of it. Everything I learned about this course, I learned from the book, or from other people. She didn't teach me a thing. I tried to go to her office hours twice, and both times she wasn't there. She may try to make you laugh occasionally, but she can also be really cruel. She told us one class that she didn't care if you didn't turn in the work in time and she would get enjoyment out of giving us F's. Most teachers want you to do well in the class, and are willing to help you. But not Lana. She only cares about you if you're getting an A in the class and already have prior knowledge of what the class is about. If you're actually coming to the class to learn this subject for the first time, don't expect any help from her and get a tutor.

This is a fairly easy teacher. there are weekly quizzes that are straight forward. the first midterm was pretty challenging and covered a lot of information but the 2nd midterm was way easier. for the final she gives you a review packet and the final is identical she just changed the numbers in the problem. every day or so she hands out a lecture packet which are your notes and you just have to fill out how to do the problems which she does on the overhead. the packets were very helpful for studying. She doesn't make it interesting except for her funny Russian accent which just takes a week to get used to. i would recommend her.

The problem with lana is that she doesn't teach math, she just lectures it. she does have an accent but it brushes off in like a week, but she is so into her own teaching strategy that she doesnt know how to answer many of the questions one might ask. She is very black and white about her style. and her grading...HORRIBLE, i honestly do not recomend. but its an ok class

Lana seems to be a very enthusiastic professor, however, that and her fascinating Russian accent aside, she is a pretty awful teacher. She has difficulty in understanding your questions and answering them. She is very inconsistent in her teaching methods. She does not provide enough examples in lecture or in her workbook to give you a stronger idea of how to answer questions on the homework and tests. Her assigned homework is often not helpful in understanding the material. Also, her grading is really extreme, I goalmost all of the probles on the tests right, but I lost roughly 9 points on each problem for not putting the exact notation. Overal I would say find a different professor

Dr. G. is highly recommended! She requires a booklet for all of her students that includes every lecture, notes, and extra tips to learn for quizzes and tests. She is really helpful and will go through extra efforts if the class does poorly on a test. She cares about your work and wants you to succeed.

Lana is a great person and an okay teacher; plain and simple. While you can tell she knows a lot about math, she doesn�t teach this knowledge to her students; maybe it gets lost in the thick Russian accent or maybe she just doesn�t teach that well, I don�t know. She is a very nice person just not that great of a teacher. This class caused me a lot of stress and I�m surprised I passed it. I talked with others who were taking Calculus 1 with different teachers and they didn�t seem to have the same amount of difficulties people in my class were having. Overall, she�s a slightly below average teacher simply because she doesn�t relay the information well. It�s possible to do well in the class as long as you work really hard and study even harder.

DO NOT TAKE if you are taking Calculus for the 1st time. At the beginning, the class is extremely slow and you will be behind the other Calc classes. However, she will rush the material at the end. Although the quizzes are very straightforward with no surprises....not the same story with the tests. She is a VERY PICKY, HARD grader. So if you're one of those that doesn't show work, or shows limited work, I suggest not to take her. She is very, very helpful in Office Hours-so that helped with clarification. She doesn't post any answers or online resources on Poly Learn. Alsoooo, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE..do the Groupwork pages of your red workbook. When you take the final, those are worth more than what you think. She's very nice, but also very picky!!!!!

I did well in this class, but only because I was well prepared from high school. This is a very difficult class if you have no background in calculus as her lectures are vague and confusing-she simply does not convey information very well. However she is a very nice lady and cares about her classes very much. I would only recommend if you feel confident in your calculus already-then it's and easy A.

Professor Grishchenko is a good teacher. Her workbook is very helpful, even though the material is very difficult. I took her class in the fall. I studies a lot. I did not have time to slow down. I studied every day. I came to her office hours. I thought it was very difficult and stressful. But, When I finished the course, I new that I have learned a lot.

Basically what the last four ratings said. Strongly urge you not to take this course if you have never taken calculus, but she is a nice professor; go to her office hours! If you are in her class: she drops the lowest quiz grade, yes you have to do the homework (7% of grade), 3 people with the highest grade in the class do not have to take the final, quizzes every week or so, 2 midterms, 1 final.

Dr. Lana is pretty cool. She likes to tell stories before class begins and she has a lot of interesting anecdotes. Though she does have a somewhat thick Russian accent, you'll get used to the way she talks. She moves fast, especially toward the end of the quarter, so I found myself learning the concepts through Youtube videos a lot. She gives quizzes mostly every Friday and she tries to give opportunities for extra credit. She'll give you a heads up on what topics will be on the quizzes. She'll also drop the lowest quiz grade that you got, and if you complete all the homework, she'll give you more points. Her handbook provides a lot of examples and study guides that can help you with studying and practice, and as long as you keep organized and prepared, you shouldn't feel much stress. If you are struggling, her office hours are helpful, and she'll make sure you understand the material before you leave her office. If you do end up taking her class, be sure to keep EVERYTHING that she gives back to you and don't wait til the last minute to do the homework assignments. She's very friendly and you will not hate her.

AVERAGE CALCULUS TEACHER! Grishchenko isn't the best calculus teacher but not the worst either. She really cares about her students and wants them to succeed but she is just average at explaining the material. There are quizzes about every Friday which are not hard (just making sure you understand the material) and then 2 midterms along with a final. The midterms are not awful but you do need to know the material well in order to get a good grade. She did give extra credit at the end of the class to help everyone's grade which was extremely nice. Overall, there are better teachers out there but if you have Grishchenko, you will be fine.

Grishchenko is a super nice teacher, but the way she presents the material is very confusing. I had already took calculus before and still stuggled in the class. The midterms are pretty straightforward, but she is an EXTREMELY picky grader.

Lana Grishchenko is a very nice woman/Russian goddess. Her calc teaching, on the other hand, could use a little work. Having taken calc in high school, I knew most of what she taught in class. If not, I woulda been hella lost. She rushed in the end and we didn't cover everything in her book. Her quizzes were pretty easy but the tests were challenging. She explained concepts fairly well. (P.S. sit in the front because she will like you more and joke that she gives the first row all A's)

I luckily took Calculus in High School so this course proved relatively easy for me. Homework was given in a manageable load, and usually collected at the end of each week; meaning you have a variable amount of time to complete the assignment depending on when it was assigned. Small one to three question quiz's are given on a weekly basis as well. However, on the final and both midterms there were multiple questions for the material was either not covered or covered in little detail. Though it made little difference for me, I could tell my fellow classmates struggled. Furthermore she begins the class very slow, taking a long time on each topic. As such by the end of the quarter many topics are barely covered or completely left out. If you took Calculus in High School you'll be fine. If not, study on your own and go to office hours.

You have a better chance of growing a 3rd nut than learning anything in this class. This teacher is garbage, she's trash. The only reason I got a B was because I took Calculus in high school. I should've gotten an A but her grading is a joke. If you don't do it her way, than you're wrong!It's communism I tell you!

Lana is continuing her education and thus can relate to her students and recognize when students feel pressure. That being said, she isn't the most organized when presenting material and tends to throw a couple of curve balls on her midterms. Her Russian accent isn't really a hinderance, but can be distracting at time. Overall she is an average calculus lecturer and suitable to take if you have a midlevel rotation.

Lana is so funny and personable, but her class was very difficult. She goes at a very slow pace, causing the class to fall behind all other classes. The material she presents seems to be easy, and the quizzes are okay, but her midterms are so insanely hard and do not reflect anything we learn in class. I have never taken calc before and her teaching methods made it very difficult to absorb the content.

She's very nice and understanding but is not a very good teacher and has an accent. Her lectures extremely slow and we ended up falling behind in the end. Her tests are really easy and she curves them a TON. I read the book and did a ton of practice problems (and watched netflix during her lectures) and did really well. If you are good at independent learning and want easy tests, she's a good teacher. If you need help and alot of explanations, I recommend another teacher.

Lana is a good teacher, you will see how approachable she is in her offiec hours, just do your work and you will do fine in her class.

Very slow lecturer. Harsh grader. Thick accent. Take another professor.

This was the first Calculus class that I have taken, so I was not sure what to expect. Professor Grishenko, although very nice, needs a little help with teaching in front of a class. In this class, I often felt as if she did not feel comfortable speaking in front of a group of people that large (about 35 students). She would often explain things very vaguely, or make mistakes doing practice problems on the board. When I went in to office hours she was very helpful and was able to make the concepts easier to understand. She seemed much more comfortable in a one on one situation. Her accent was a source of some trouble for me, either she would use the wrong word or I couldn't understand what she said. This problem for the most part went away towards the end of the quarter. Overall, she is a very nice person but was needs some improvement in her teaching.

Should of listened to the reviews. Strong accent. Quizzes are decent but midterms and final are hard and in no way compare to the review that she gives you. If you have a chance, do yourself a favor and choose another professor.

I had the class at 7 am and do not do that if you can help it. Attendance is not mandatory but you can get extra credit if you miss less than three times or just email her. Tbh just email her its super easy and you can miss a bunch. Easy workload and tests arent bad. She does read off of her lecture notes a lot and her accent is sometimes a tad thick but if you ask a question or demonstrate interest then shes super nice and willing to help. She's a secret homie, not obvious at first but over the quarter youll see what I mean.

Grischenko is honestly a decent professor for 141. Now, she's not the best math teacher I've ever had but she does her job well. Her lectures, especially in the beginning, can be a little confusing and muddled but they get better as the quarter progresses. Her quizzes are very easy, very basic although she will take points off for small format errors. Her tests are definitely more difficult than the quizzes but they aren't hard. The tests are fair, there are usually no curve ball questions. She also gives partial credit and curves the tests which can be a lifesaver. She definitely wants her students to do well and tries her best to help her students. She is very helpful during her office hours so go to them if you need help (or look up the concepts on youtube)! Yes, she has an accent but people make a bigger deal about it than is necessary. Overall, she's a decent professor.

Grishchenko, although at first some might find her Russian accent mildly inconvenient, is someone I find very easy to understand. She presents her material clearly but the completeness of her teachings varies within the classes she teaches. However, she makes up for the missing gaps by changing her grading curve according to class section. Her class is fairly easy to follow (especially if you've experience in Calc). One quiz each week (13% to final grade), 1-2 assignments per week (7% to final grade), 2 midterms (50% to final grade) and a final exam (30% to final grade). Study before each quiz and do your assignments! She typically selects some of the assignment questions to put into her quizzes. Although she may be annoyingly particular (like only allowing binders for class work not folders, stapled assignments, homework covers, etc.), you'll find her class very easy and it's not that hard to get a good grade if you put the effort in!

she ended up leaving us a full 2 weeks behind the planned schedule of the M141 curriculum. She also neglected to tell us this, so math 142 was a rough awakening when I realized everyone around me knew how to integrate functions, and she had never even covered it. All that aside, her class was fun and she's a great instructor. Great at explaining concepts, fair grader, and kinda sassy to boot. Just way to slow.

I thought Dr. Lana was a great Calc 1 teacher. Every day that she gives a lecture she hands out notes, which follows what she does on the board and then they have like two practice problems in them. She assigns homework every night and she chooses every Friday, which assignments she will collect. She does grade for correctness, so I suggest getting a hold of solution manual. It is in your best interest to do all of your homework and the notes because at the end of the quarter you can get 10 extra credit points on the final for having a completed binder and missing less than three classes(it is possible I did it with a 7am). She only gives two midterms and each are worth 25% of your grade. You have a quiz every Friday unless there is an exam that week and she tells you the day before exactly what it will be on. Overall she is a fair grader, but she is a stickler for the little things, like carrying the equal sign down and always remembering to use parenthesis. All of her tests(except the final) are curved to the highest score. At the end of the quarter, she takes the top three students and each of her classes and excuses them from the final, but in order for this to happen you have to show up the class before the final.

Overall a good professor. A little slow on the lectures, and every once in a while her lectures are unclear. But highly suggest taking her.

She is the best!!! what I learned in her Calc I was more than I ever understand in my whole life!! She have packets for you to fill in and follow her as she lecture so you are less tempted to look at your phone in class, you focus more, and you also get extra credits in the end of the quarter. She assigns hw which goes toward your grade. This forced me to do them and learn more at the same time. Her lectures are slower but super clear. She is super sweet, nice, caring, and understanding. If you are struggling with math, this is it. She is a super dedicated person. I think my grade is highly a B in her class. But it is possible I had an A. The only way to fail this class is to be on your phone during lecture and not doing your hw. She always give extra credit problems on midterms!!! 10/10 yes!!!!

I'd say 2.5/4 is fair.

I had an advantage in Dr. Lana's class as I took Calc in High School and actually still remembered it pretty well. She is an ok teacher when you can understand her but her accent would have been hard to follow sometimes if I didn't already know what she was teaching. She is very helpful though and truly wants her students to succeed. She throws some curveballs on the midterms but if you have an A in the class before the final she doesn't make you take it. She is over all not a bad proffessor

Dr. Lana is a sweet lady who really cares about her students. I remember on the first day she said that she would be our "new mother" because we could go to her with any problem. She is a little bit weird and has a thick accent. Her weirdness made her a fun person but I guess doesn't have much to do with her actual class, however, her accent and broken English could interfere with the clarity of her lecture sometimes. She had weekly quizzes and homework that weren't that difficult if you were keeping up with the course material well enough. The two most challenging parts of her class were her tests and her lectures. Her lectures because of the clarity problem that I mentioned earlier, and her tests were difficult because of the challenging problems. I remember on one test there was a problem about linearization that she had to explain to us before we started the test because we had never done it before which seemed a little unfair, but the problem was doable after some explanation. I'm not sure what she was like in office hours because I never went, but I'm sure if you need something cleared up, going to those would help. Overall, her class shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as you take the time to learn the material well.

Lana was a good professor because she was honest about her own struggles and understanding about others. She really cares about the students in her class which is not always the case with math professors. She would occasionally rush lectures which made material harder to understand but the workshops were amazing.

Let me first say that I was so disappointed when I got a B in this course. I had taken AP Calc in high school, so I knew most of the material. Professor Lana is very sweet and entertaining with her stories from Russia. Her quizzes are fairly simple, however her midterms were a little more challenging. If you have taken calc before I suggest you study even if you think you know the material.

At first Lana seemed really cool; she offers 10 bonus points onto the midterm if you bring your binder with all your quizzes and notes, she printed out note packets for us, and she approached calculus differently than what I saw in high school which I liked. But quickly I grew to dislike her as she would chastise/make fun of the class for the mistakes they made on quizzes and tests because they were "silly mistakes". She wasn't a very good teacher and going to her office hours actually made me more confused. Now in 142 I am behind because of her teaching and I was struggling at the beginning because I didn't learn the content of 141 fully. I do not recommend her.

Lana really cares about her students. She assigned hw that's due and makes you have a binder for her class. (This felt like I was being treated like a middle schooler, but oh well). She was very organized and handed out "fill in the blank" worksheets for every lecture. Lana has a thick accent, so beware if that's not something you can deal with.

Lana is a great teacher that cares about her students, she cares in ways that you won't find in other Cal Poly Professors. She has a beautiful Russian Accent (although I've heard some people who dislike that, but I personally think it is beautiful - you can totally follow her thoughts, not a problem at all). Calculus could be a tough subject for some and she understands that, go to her office hours and I can say for sure she will be helpful. Make the effort because she will make the effort for you too. Sweet lady! Ms Grishchenko played and still play an important role in my academic life until today after I'm done with her class. Lana is my support here in this country and I will be forever grateful for her not letting me give up. Thank you Lana~

I'm not saying she's a bad teacher because I hate calculus, she is actually just a bad teacher. When you raise your hand for she just ends up roasting you and not actually helping you. She also teaches examples instead of concepts making the whole class super hard to understand. She's a pretty bad teacher but her accent is not actually that bad, you just have to pay attention to what she is saying.

By all means, avoid this teacher if you have the chance. She is really caring for her students, but sometimes it comes out the wrong way. Not only does she struggle to present material in a way will help you on the tests, but also she will roast your ass if you are late. I came into this class with prior knowledge of calculus, and needless to say finished with a B-. Her test problems are complex, and do not resemble what we go over in class/on quizzes. She explicitly stated that she makes her class difficult for students already knowing calculus, so imagine if you came in for the first time... She is really caring for her freshman, she genuinely wants to help them out. However I feel that she could improve on communicating essential concepts that will be featured on exams.

literally the worst, she cares about students but only explains it in a terrible way. she will yell alot about stupid stuff and then lecture. her test and quizzes are never clear of what she actually wants. every single person in this class i know dislikes her. would NOT recommend. she's sweet in office hours but seeing her 4 times a week 50 minutes a day kills my mood almost always.

While she very clearly cares about her students and how well they do/understand math, she is very narrow in her teaching style and doesn't cater to those who struggle in math. During office hours she is more helpful but in class, answering her questions wrong can often leave you feeling inferior and stupid. When you ask a question, you often will get a confusing answer.

This is the worst class I have ever taken. I have never been made to feel as stupid as Dr. Lana made me feel, and she routinely called specific people out in class for being dumb. Her tests are very unclear and unrelated to class material and she assigns way too much homework (that is irrelevant anyways). We ended up finishing the year two weeks behind where we were supposed to be because she went off on tangents about her math research, mostly centered on how three is the best number. This wouldn't be horrible except a.) I had to advance to the next math and b.) she put material WE NEVER WENT OVER on the final. If you get blocked into this class and cannot get out, join the workshop as soon as possible to survive.

Terrible. She didn’t really want to help students who had a harder time with math. Don’t take this class if you have not taken calculus before.

Lana is an awful professor. I had previously taken calc in high school and passed with an A. I got a C in hers, which I find ridiculous given I was able to do all the concepts we had practiced. It is really hard to understand what she is saying through her accent and she likes to word problems on her test and quizzes in strange notations. She does this because she wants to emphasize the importance of understanding all notations but she literally writes them with the goal of confusing you. Her homework also doesn’t correlate with what you do in class. You have to teach yourself first which is extremely frustrating. She also picked on me for wearing pajamas once and said that if I don’t start coming dressed appropriately she was gonna start coming in her lingerie. I’d recommend bailing out of her class unless there’s no other space. She’s not a bad person just an awful professor.

Gives too much homework, grades harshly on weekly quizzes. Fails to understand that many of the students in her class never took high school calculus, yet she still presents the class as if it is review for everyone. Accent makes it hard to understand what she is presenting to the class.

Lana Grishchenko was definitely one of the best professors I’ve ever had. As you can see, I did not get an A or even a B in this class; I got a C (my first C ever), but I’m okay with it because I know that I tried my best in the class and Lana was dedicated to helping me achieve that grade despite the struggles I was having. Once she can see that you are trying and that you care about the class, she will do almost anything within her power to help you learn and become a better student. She truly cares and makes time (outside of office hours even) for her students. She went out of her way for me numerous times and made a point of understanding what was going on in students’ lives that may be affecting their school work. She is fair and for me that meant not getting the grade I wanted, but I - as well as the rest of the class - got the grade I deserved and couldn’t have done so without her generous time and energy put towards helping me.

Terrible teacher... Got a B because of communism

This lady sounds like the dude with the long nose in despicable me... if I would've known about this teacher in the future, there would be no way I would take this class. I rather drag my balls across a mile of needles while starving and listening to Slipknot then take this teacher.... communism

Lana is great!! I cant even believe these other reviews because well... she gave our class an extension on both midterms, put all kinds of opportunity for help and extra credit, and she curves. If you actually do the bare minimum of doing the homework I guarantee you will succeed. She is extremely easy to be around just take her class seriously or give the illusion that you do and she will jump through hoops to help you. I LOVE this teacher. Calculus is hard, but she is a good teacher to introduce it.

Lana is a great teacher. She is a continuing student herself so she understands student struggles for the most part. She moved our midterm to the week when most people don't have midterms so people had less to stress about. The two midterms are very straight forward, almost exactly like the practice test she gives you before. Has review days throughout to answer questions before exams. She prints out the notes for you and you simply have to show up and follow along. Sometimes hard to understand her with her accent but it made me pay attention even more to try to make out some things. Only major downside is her lectures are much more easy to understand but explained different than the book so some of the assignments may be challenging but she is very helpful in office hours. Overall though the workload isn't bad for Calculus and she doesn't collect all the assignments at first, tests are very straight forward, she drops the lowest quiz score and gives extra credit for keeping all your homework and coming to class. I would recommend her!

We'll start with the good: She does give out handouts to outline what she will be teaching in class and is a very genuine and funny person. Her accent may get to you in the beginning, but you'll get used to it so don't bitch about it. She gives extra credit for keeping an organized binder with all her handouts which is really great and her weekly quizzes are not so bad as she tells you exactly what she expects. Now to the bad: She is often unclear in class. If you have not taken calculus before this class you will definitely struggle with a lot of the concepts(as I did). Additionally, she is often late to office hours and will give you answers to questions, but still no clear explanation. The homework(graded) she gives often does not correlate with the lectures in class and are often MUCH harder than the examples she gives in class. I would say avoid taking her if you can, but she is not THAT bad.

Dr. Lana was such a great professor! She is one of the kindest people I have met that is a part of the faculty at this school. She lectures very slow in order to make sure you can understand. Although the class moves at a fast pace, she makes it feel totally do-able. She is very precise in every thing she writes on the board and all her example problems. This is very helpful because she never skips any steps! She gives weekly quizzes and only collects homework on Fridays. Some weeks will have more homework than others but overall it is manageable. The tests are hard but she makes sure to cover everything that will be on them before! I loved having her as a professor because even though you have to work hard, it pays off on her tests! She is also very helpful in office hours.

Dr. G is hands down best math teacher I've ever had at cal poly. She's organized but kind of strict in what she wants to see on her tests and quizzes but they're pretty easy. She tells you what is on each quiz before you take them so you aren't surprised at all when taking the test. She can seem mean but thats just her personality. I loved her!

If you have to take another calculus class after this one, then maybe think of getting a different professor or a tutor because you will not go over integrals in this class. Otherwise, the class is fairly easy if you know basic precalculus. She is very straightforward. Sometimes it may seem very repetitive but I prefer it over your typical fast-paced class. I loved her sense of humor and she is very helpful if you have trouble. Extra credit on all midterms and finals. You can turn in your binder w all material to get 10 points towards your final! I RECOMMEND this professor.

What even is this teacher. I mean, she's knowledgeable in Calculus, but she looks down on just about every one of her students, seriously. She has a classic Russian attitude that is so stereotypically true, just like her thick accent. She said some of the rudest things that I've ever heard a teacher say. She asked a kid who didn't bring his worksheet in that day, "did you take it into the bathroom with you?" which I think she was basically referencing him as wiping his ass with her worksheet. If you can get past the occasional rudeness and understand the accent, you shouldn't have a problem in this class.

Lana is a nice, sassy Russian lady. I wouldn't recommend you take her class without some sort of background in calculus. I got a 5 on the AP calc test and am fairly good at calc, but Lana teaching style made me genuinely confused about things I had previously understood. Your best bet in this class is to take all her lesson's with a grain of salt, teach yourself out of the book, go to office hours, and take the accompanying SCM if you struggle with math.

Lana is the most terrible person I’ve ever met. I’m a fourth year student that took this class as a required support class. I went into office hours twice a week for the first three weeks of the quarter trying to get extra help I’ve ALWAYS struggled with math and I wanted to be on top of it. One day in her office I was really struggling with a problem and I said I’m so sorry I’m really just not getting it can you please explain it another way and she got super frustrated with me and said “you never try, you see something new and give up”. Which I might add, I was skipping another lecture to be in her office hours. In my opinion she is the one that “wasn’t trying” she completely gave up on teaching me and made me cry probably 3 or 4 times in her office. I stopped going to her office hours and never went back, which in turn left me getting D’a and F’s in her course. This teacher is an absolute joke and disgrace to Cal Poly’s reputable name. Having professors like this destroys mental health of students and creates an awful learning environment. I am a very good student in the rest of my courses, have never gotten below a C and Lana fucked me. I’ll be real, do not take this class unless you want to listen to a judgmental bitch for 10 weeks straight. I recommend taking calculus through a JC or online somewhere else if you want to have a decent experience.

Lana was a great professor who truly cares for her students. I had never taken Calculus before so I was super nervous that I would fall behind in this class or get a bad grade. However, she was super nice and gave students multiple opportunities to raise their grade. She has 2-3 weekly homework assignments which aren't bad but slowly become harder as the quarter progresses. But if she still uses the bio calc textbook for homework then you can find the answer sheet on Cal Poly PDF page. In addition she also gives out quizzes every other week (which I loved!), she also has bonus quizzes towards the end of the quarter if you want to try to boost your grade and she drops the lowest quiz score. She only has one midterm but her final is worth 40% so make sure you study and go to her office hours! If you put in the effort, do your homework and go to class regularly you should be fine.

Dr. Lana is a pretty solid teacher. She prints off notes for you and the homework load isn’t too big at all. Additionally, she was pretty accommodating with grades at the end of the quarter and dropped everyone’s lowest quiz scores. A few times during the semester she did this weird shit where she would ask for questions and then yell at people who asked questions for not listening earlier but besides that she was pretty nice. You’ll get used to the accent quickly. Overall a relatively solid teacher.

DO NOT TAKE LANA FOR MATH 221. I was unfortunate enough to be apart of her first quarter teaching math 221. I had already taken Lana for math 116& 117 and i thought i would do just as good of a job. It turns out that i did really well in math before because the material was easy and not because she was a good teacher. Her tests are ridiculous and way harder than any homework problem you will ever see. She is a very nice lady but the class was horrible. We took a quiz every class period, which means for the hour time we had to learn, we were taking a quiz instead of being taught. She taught maybe 10 minutes out of each day, and that was mostly answering our confused classes questions. She is a super nice woman so i hate saying this about her.. but dont take her.

I went into this class thinking that Lana would be a solid Calc teacher. I realized about 3 weeks into the class that I was mistaken. I took AP Calc my senior year of high school, and so I figured that this class would be all review. She gave quizzes at least 2 days a week, and we had 3 midterms, one of which was dropped. Nightly homework was assigned but not graded; the point of doing the homework was to prepare you for the quizzes. I spent at least 2 hours a night doing the homework, studied for all the quizzes, midterms, and the final, and somehow ended up with an F in this class. Avoid Lana at all costs....she rushes through lecture and fails to make concepts clear while also making many mistakes during lecture and confusing the class. I'd try a different Calc teacher if you can.

Lana is a nice, funny, but kind of crazy lady. She makes a lot of spontaneous, random jokes and random stuff and her heavy accent adds a comical effect. However, she isn't the greatest at explaining certain concepts. She gives about 2-3 quizzes a week on average, sometimes more though. Those are extremely easy-they're just problems taken out of the homework, which is optional and not turned in. She gives 3 midterms and a final, and has this grading system where you can drop a midterm, and then if you get a better grade on the final(which isn't very hard) than you did on one of the midterms, that grade counts double, for both your final and for that particular midterm. I got a C and a D on the first 2 tests cuz I didn't do anything for the first half of the quarter, got a B+ on the 3rd midterm, studied my ass off for the final and ended up with a solid A in the class. Go figure. Take this class, but don't slack off at the beginning like I did.

Lana is a kind lady, but her accent is an adjustment. I think her grading system is more than fair. She gives you many opportunites to improve your test scores and the quizzes are an easy way to pad your grade. Also, the top three students did not have to take the final. I found that I learned more from looking at the examples in the book, but Lana's method of structuring the class made performing the concepts not hard at all.

The heavy Russian accent did not help my math 221 experience one bit. It took me a week to figure out she was saying secant and not second. Nine times out of ten she wouldn't even teach. She just put the example problems or notes on the board without ever explaining them. The funniest parts of class would come when someone would ask her how to do a homework problem and she either couldn't do it or would get it wrong and say screw it. If your not good at math don't take this lady. Personally my mind leans more towards english, so if your like me and don't do well with numbers don't take her. My friend also took the class and we both got D's. More than half the class never knew what was going on. It seemed like the only people who knew what to do took the class in high school.

After reading all of these ratings on Lana I was deathly afraid of taking Calc 221 with her. After getting over her strong accent though I realized that she was very helpuful, kind, and understanding and I never really knew what all of these people were talking about. She curves tests, drops the lowest quiz, and gives extra credit. What else could you ask for?!

After reading the ratings I thought she would some evil demon, but she isn't that bad. She always gives a few pts back on the Mid-terms and the quizzes aren't that bad if you review your notes. She gives extra credit for doing problems on the board which helps, and at the end of the quarter she gives extra credit if you kept you binder with the lectrue notes, hw, and quizzes. I think you could like 18pts ont the final just for having your binder is in order! Also the top 3 or 4 students in the class don't have to take the final.

it seems like every math teacher i take has some insane accent, but ive gotten A's in all of them so i continue to take them. she scared me at the start because she said if she got mad she would turn into a volcano and kill you! this class is a breeze to stay organized in. she gives you notes everyday and all you have to do is follow along with the notes. the material itself is not that hard, but if youre gonna ditch then dont even bother taking the class cuz you'll miss too much. i had an 87 by the end of the quarter but it was the second highest in the class so i automatically got an A and i didnt have to take the final. take her, its not that hard.

She is possibly the worst teacher I've EVER had. The class itself was hard, but not terrible. She clearly tailored the class towards the students who had already taken calc in high school and sort of left the rest of us to deal and survive off of the workshop (which you should take if you haven't already had calc). I don't understand why she emphasized what she emphasized either. On one test I got 100% on all of the business application problems, but couldnt graph an equation by hand. I ended up with a 63 on the test. Explain that to me; I need to know business calc, not graphing by hand (we have calculators and computers to graph for us. In fact, we spent the entire 10 week course on differentiation. That's right, we never GOT to integrals. I'm an econ major and now I'm pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'm finally in a class which I've been waiting two quarters for and unlocks every other class I'll ever have to take at Cal Poly, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle it. The "calculus review", I've never done. So now I might have to drop the class, take math 221 again, and have to wait another quarter or two to advance in my major (my concentration requires calc as well). Yes she is nice, yes she'd be an acceptable (at best) professor if you've already learned the material, but if you're at college to learn, you won't do it in her class.

"Lana" sucks balls. she is quite possibly the WORST teacher i have taken. no joke. did i say she sucks? she should purchase rosetta stone because her english is ridiculously shitty. she provides an immense amount of handouts and lecture notes, which are helpful in learning concepts, but the exams are twice as difficult. last quarter she curved only one of her classes because she based it on class average. the whole class had trouble following her, expletives were flying, and she didnt take a hint to slow down and explain further. oh, and dont bother with her office hours. get a new job slutlana

Highly recommend teacher. Very funny and helpful. Very nice. Definitely on students side

Lana gives you handouts on a daily basis so its important to stay organized. Her tests are specifically based on everything in the handouts. Its really not that tricky. If you study for her class you will do well. I also went to her office hours and she\'s pretty funny and always helpful. Im not sure why people give her bad ratings. Probably because they don\'t study ? I would take her again!

I would definitely recommend her. She is very knowledgeable. Her accent is very cool - i could hardly help but laugh on the first day, but you get used to hearing \"dis-con-TIN-your-ity\" pretty fast. She is not a hard grader by any means, and i felt like i was able to grasp the concepts very well. Take her class.

Svetlana is pretty entertaining. Her notes are pretty good and if you study them you should be ok. She let my class pick when we wanted to take the final (which day and time because she has multiple classes) and the top 3 students didn\'t even have to take it. She has a coversheet format for the hw which is kinda strange. She has a good sense of humor but her accent is kind of thick sometimes so shes hard to understand every once in a while. Quizzes are really easy and the tests weren\'t too bad either. She walks around during the tests sometimes and almost gives you the answer if your struggling.

Lana is awesome! Although she has an accent, there isn\'t really much of a language barrier, she presents material very well with thorough handouts. If you haven\'t taken calculus in high school, I recommend her because there is no trig and she gives well thought out steps on how to solve problems. She\'s really funny and she is extremely nice, she has been my favorite teacher for my first quarter at CP.

Lana often has trouble with grammar, spelling, and pronouncing things correctly but it\'s amusing at worst. She goes through concepts REALLY slowly so I never felt behind even though I\'d never taken calc before, and a lot of my class had. A lot of people say it sucks to take her if you haven\'t taken calc before, but everything is pretty much written out for you even if you don\'t listen to her. Her exams are pretty easy and straightforward and if you aren\'t sure if you did something right, she\'ll pretty much tell you whether you did it wrong or right if you ask her.

She isn't as bad as some people say, she prints out the notes everyday and you HAVE to come to class both to get the notes and because she lowers your grade if you miss more than 2 classes. The quizzes, midterms, and final are fair but she grades homework for accuracy so it's a good idea to do it with someone else to double check. She is also a stickler for notation on tests so be sure to over-clarify things. Lastly, I wouldn't suggest asking questions in class because most of the time she won't understand the question and you'll be more confused by the 20 minute rambling in half russian and half english

Great teacher and person. Her accent took some time to get used to but after week 2 it's not problem. She presents the material clearly and gives good examples. Had only 5 quizzes the entire year and divides you into homework groups. Her exams are pretty easy and she gives you a practice final two weeks in advance which is really similar to the real one. Great teacher and no reason to fail this class. Take it.

Nice lady. Pretty Funny. Its calculus; suck it up. Class moves fairly quickly and can become hard to grasp immediately, but study for a few hours on multiple days and you should at least get a C. Do not slip on quizes and homework.

This professor was the absolute worst professor I've ever had in all of my education, including my primary education. She has no idea how to teach and roasted the shit out of me whenever I went to office hours for help. I was also in the workshop, and still only received a C. Our workshop leader was in calc 4 and frequently found incorrect information in her lectures. She was horribly inconsistent and gave condescending comments to students trying to participate in and contribute to the lecture. Furthermore, she spent the first 20 minutes of our 50 minute class periods telling stories in attempt to humanize herself slightly, although wasted immense amounts of time. Finally, on the last day of the course she gave us a spread sheet indicating that she had only taught us 45% of the course material, and would grade us based on that. So essentially, I paid thousands of dollars to take a class and supplemental workshop only to receive a GPA drop and learn less than half of the course.

I took MATH 221 with her because she was the only professor that was not listed as "staff" and I saw that her recent ratings said that she had improved a lot. BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE!!! This is a Business Calculus course and I had not learned one single thing about business. it was all calculus, which was fine, but she never explains how the answer tells you. so at the end, I still don't how what I learned from this class. Don't take her if you want a decent grade.

ddgdgd

Professor Grishchenko was a terrible teacher due to the fact that this class is for Liberal Studies Students only. It is meant to help us learn how to teach the simple concepts of mathematics. She was very unhelpful and unprofessional during class and wasted quite a bit of time. When we had to do a teaching project she gave us no rubric and no material to work off of. In all of my upper division EDUC classes this has NEVER happened. Professor Grishchenko made fun of us as we were teaching and acted like a kindergardener, this does not help one become a better teacher, in fact it makes students sway away from teaching. Although she claims to know so much about teaching students I do not believe that she could last more than a day in an elementary school classroom.

BOYCOTT!!!