He tries to keep the class interesting but speeds through a lot of topics. Definitely don't buy the book and it helped me a lot to do CLAS for it. You get a notecard on all three midterms and the final which is helpful
The tests are heavily weighted. Material is stupid easy. It's pre-calc until the 7th week when we do basic derivatives and stuff. I would recommend this class for the easy A. GO TO HIS OFFICE HOURS. He's the nicest person ever and always extends office hours. The reason I got an A+ was b/c of office hours.
Peter is very friendly and easy to talk to! His lectures can be very confusing and fast paced. I recommend going to CLAS! There are three midterms and a finalyou can use a flashcard. Overall, the class is not too difficult but there's not really a way of knowing your overall grade since nothing is posted, so beware of that!!
Homework answers can all be found on Google or in the back of the textbook. He is very accessible outside of class and willing to help you with homework problems via email. Slides are detailed and well-prepared before class. Do the practice exams posted before the midterms/final and you should be fine. Allows a 3x5 notecard on all 3 midterms.
Peter is nice and seems to try hard to get students interested in the material, but he is not a good teacher. He doesn't teach, just just has problems on the screen for students to do and then goes on with his slides. Would not recommend as an intro to calc prof. Be ready to have to teach yourself the material!
Never taken any calculus in my life and this class was very doable. Didn't take much effort and he does good job interacting with the class and keeping lectures interesting.
Great math professor. Makes great conversation as well as a great/honest lecturer. There is homework (obviously its math) and 2 midterms. Everything you need is in the lectures. TAs are very helpful as well. Overall a really great class.
Professor Garfield was very nice and he did a good job at teaching. He does iClicker it pays off in the end if you go to almost all lectures because if he notices good effort (just good attendance and do all HW) he boosts any grade from C-B- to a B. Didn't go to class last 3 weeks and still passed final with a B, all tests are like practice exams
Very good lectures, also posted online if you can't make it. Tests are not very hard. Very friendly and funny guy.
Peter was one of the best math professors I've ever had. He is fully aware that most of his students won't need to know calculus for their majors. Tests are exactly like the practice exams and he post at least 3 practice exams each test. Notecards allowed for every test even the final. gives in class reviews.
The grading criteria for the class was clear, midterms are exactly like the practice midterms uploaded. Taught in a way that was useful for me to understand.
3 midterms + a final, but old versions are given out and they're very similar to the exams. HW due before each lecture (3x a week), which is excessive. Final worth as much as all 3 midterms put together (35%). HW and section worksheets not relevant to actual exam material. Garfield is sometimes bad at explaining, but he's nice. Very doable class.
Made calculus very easy to understand. Homework was pretty straight forward & lectures were manageable. Only complaint was that our 3rd midterm grade wasn't released until after we took our final.
Peter is super kind and accessible outside of class. He has office hours 5 days a week (in person and zoom) which were super helpful for doing the harder homework problems. Sometimes he could break examples down a little better in lecture but for the most part he did a good job lecturing. Also his practice exams are SO HELPFUL! Overall an easy A.
Peter isn't the best lecturer, but his lecture slides are AMAZING. Downloading his lecture slides and working through them independently in lecture was the best method for learning the concepts. Tests are super easy, they're just like the practice tests. Peter is SUPER accessible outside of class. It's an easy A, as long as you put in the work.
There were 23 homework assignments this quarter (2-3 a week) worth 12 and he drops the 3 lowest- homework is frequent but doable. He is SO slow at getting exam grades in! The final is over and we are still waiting for our last midterm scores to be released. Disappointing!! Overall easy A though, exams are just like the practice exams he posts.
Good at lecturing, and when I went I understood the concepts pretty well, but on the quizzes/final he clearly wanted you to actually think because there were always a few curveballs. Go to lectures and its not hard to pass, attendance is "mandatory" and he uses iClicker w/o the geolocation so you can check in from anywhere. Section is mandatory.
I already knew calc 1 before this class, but if you've never taken it before I think you would have a hard-ish time. He is an okay lecturer, better than most of the math department here, but you will probably still have to self teach. Weekly homework, 10 problems. No calculator exams, so they're pretty easy. Know the concepts and how to do stuff.
A better lecturer than other math professors I've had and usually I wasn't too lost. Webwork homework could be frustrating but was helpful. There were weekly quizzes instead of a midterm, and they alternated between in-person and online. Biggest complaint was that he took forever to grade them.
Peter Garfield was a great professor that gave lots of resources to succeed in his class. He does have weekly quizzes and there is more homework in this class compared to other math classes but the homework really helped me. No midterm, only weekly quizzes and a final. Calculus is not my favorite subject but his class was a great introduction!
he's the goat
Great professor, gives numerous resources to help out students and clearly cares about his class.
I have a hard time with math and that's always going to stay the same. Professor Garfield was an amazing professor and he geniunely tried his hardest with this students. He would go over a version of all the problems in his office hours (TAKE ADVANTAGE) and the grading wasn't pure tests. He was very funny and gave a lot of grace. 10/10
Nice guy, not a good teacher. Lectures covered concepts but weren't helpful at all for homework or quizzes. Be ready to self teach, especially for applications (related rates, optimization, etc.) as lectures are useless. LOTS of homework, but he drops your lowest homework and quiz. Don't take this class unless you already have calc experience.