Tom Sideris

33 reviews
Tough grader Clear grading criteria Accessible outside class Skip class? You won't pass. Lots of homework Beware of pop quizzes Get ready to read Tests are tough Caring Lecture heavy
Past quarters
ENV S 70
143 / 144 Enrolled
Introduction to Environmental Ethics
Tom Sideris 3.0
M W
09:30 AM - 10:45 AM
74.9% A
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MATH3A . 3 Years Ago

Doesn't seem super inspired, maybe because of online classes. Lectures are async and boring. Homework on webwork 2x a week. Expects you to do problems in textbook for no credit. Tests are on gradescope and are difficult, every two weeks. He does make some interesting/funny questions for the tests though.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

Took this class during COVID, his grading policy was reasonable. 30% HW with unlimited attempts so it's easy to get 100 and 70% Tests and he drops 1 of the 5 tests. His lectures were slow and his explanations weren't the best. TA's, CLAS, and Khan Academy are grade savers in this class. Tests are reasonable.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

The material was not that bad. He talked really slow over his videos. Had to put it to 1.5 or 2x speed. He does not explain well, so used outside sources. the TA section help, and the textbook was really helpful. I never used Kahn Academy that often but I did for his class. He also drops the lowest of the test scores, at least for the online class.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

His lectures are really slow and boring and it's honestly better to just look up videos online on how to do calculus. But his tests are ridiculously easy and a basic understanding of the course material is good enough though.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

Professor Sideris has clear grading criteria and his exams are not too difficult. He does post a lot of lectures per week and is a fairly slow talker, but he prepares you for the exams. He was very accessible during office hours and responded to emails quickly.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

Online lectures are disorganized, hard to understand, and unclear. He seems like a nice person and communicates fairly quickly by email but besides that, his lectures are very boring. I normally don't write reviews but until we have in class teaching again, I don't recommend this class.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

DO NOT TAKE ONLINE!!!!!! I have never seen such terrible lecture videos. They're torture. Talks so slow 2x speed is still frustrating. Doesn't even sound like he's making sentences just spitting out random words every 5 seconds as he slowly writes stuff out. Majority of his examples are straight out of the book which explains it much more clearly.

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MATH3A . 4 Years Ago

I've only been here a few weeks and already this is the most boring and hard class of my entire schedule. The lectures don't reflect the hw, he talks so slow that if you put him on 2x speed it will seem like he is talking normal. A lot of us are already using websites to learn concepts bc his lectures don't apply to the hw and midterms

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MATH124B . 4 Years Ago

To be fair, Prof Sideris is a good prof. Lectures well organized. Replies to emails fast, so accessible even if u never go to OHs. Avg good for HW&Exams. Grades tough but lists why taking pts off. Grader's responsible, willing to give pt back if request w/ a convincible rsn. Remote mode's hard for profs too, but Prof Sideris is doing quite well.

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MATH124B . 4 Years Ago

It is understandable, that Prof. Sederis did not have time to grade the homeworks, but the grader he hired was too harsh. He only took care about the harsh grading before drop deadline and after that no more concerns about the harsh grader. Honestly speaking, he was one the most irresponsible prof I have met at UCSB. Please ignore all his classes.

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124B . 4 Years Ago

Lazy, boring, difficult. Don't do it, there's lots of actually decent math professors out there.

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MATH118A . 5 Years Ago

Professor Sideris is a great lecturer and is always happy to help each and every student that seeks some assistance. He is amazing!

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