Riley, Kate  

Dr. Riley did a great job of organizing and teaching this class. It is the first class for Elementary Math Teachers. She is prepared and organizes class everyday so that we as students take part in our learning. She is very knowledgeable about the course and constantly tries to tie the class to what we will be teaching in elementary school. She is super nice and approachable and always answers emails in a timely manner. I wish she were teaching the second course for elementary teachers!!

Riley does not have the capabilities a Doctorate of Mathematics should. I retook Calc 2 with her because of her high poly ratings. She is usually kind and get's the basic point across. She doesn't lack as a lecturer. It's her logic that's screwed up. She isn't bad, so take her if your other options are worse. On the first quiz, I integrated something like the square root of x + 1, something very basic. I squared both sides before I integrated it (something my past professor taught me) and she gave me no credit on it. She said it was wrong but she COULDN'T EXPLAIN WHY. So she went to ANOTHER PROFESSOR. She ended up giving me credit on it, but I had a few other problems with her and her "logic", resulting in her kicking me out of her office. She doesn't like to acknowledge the logic or applications of math, and instead likes to reiterate lectures and stick to HER methods. She really rubbed me the wrong way to the point that I didn't want to attend her lectures. She's good at reiterating lectures and her exams aren't too challenging (easier than Liese who I took before), so take her class if you want.

i recommend dr. riley for any calculus class! She presents material in a clear and organized way and is very fair in her quizzes and exams. Weekly quizzes that are based on homework and that really help study for her exams. two exams and a final. homework turned in on friday but gives plenty of time to get it done. i feel very prepared to go on to 142 plus she is extremely nice and helpful

She is a bomb teacher! She will bend over backwards for students inside and outside of class to help them understand the material. She makes the lecture go by very fast and isnt monotone. She is very clear in class and her quizzes and midterms are straight forward. Her final was hard, but fair. I would recommend her for anyone for any class.

Dr. Riley is by far one of the best math teachers I have ever had. She is everything you could want in a teacher. Her tests are very fair. If you are lazy like me, she makes you do the homework by collecting one assignment each week, but she will not tell you which one she will collect, therefore forcing you to do all of them. Dr. Riley will do whatever she can to help you learn. She is extremely helpful during office hours and never makes you feel dumb if you ask a simple question. If you have the opportunity I definitely recommend taking this teacher.

I think she is a great teacher and presents the material clearly. She is also there to help you at her office hours, which really helps if you don't understand. Her tests are kind of hard, but they are pretty fair I'd say. She just grades a little hard sometimes. Do the homework and you will definitely pass. If you study more then you'll most likely get an A.

Excellent teacher I would highly recommend her to anyone. I would take her for my math if I ever had another chance. She is very clear and a fair grader. If you have a chance to take her dont pass it up. She is funny and never makes you feel dumb. very down to earth. TAKE HER

She's a great teacher. I am not good at calculus. That's the only reason I didn't get an A. She'll lower her standards to meet the classes ability. She allowed us to drop a test and replace it with our final if we had a better score. She also dropped our lowest quiz and homework score. Take her if possible.

Kate Riley is awesome!!! I took her for two quarters (math 141 and 142) and she was great at teaching both subjects. She would always make an effort to learn everyone's name and make the class feel like a very comfortable place. Her homework is pretty easy and helps a lot on the exams and quizzes. I recommend her for any level of calculus!

Dr. Riley is one of the best math professors I have ever had. She presented even the hardest material clearly and effortlessly. She made her quizzes, midterms, and tests hard, but not too hard. She also curves generously and is exceedingly helpful during her office hours. TAKE HER IF YOU CAN!

Dr. Riley is an awesome professor and I was dissapointed to find that she wouldn't be teaching 143 the next quarter. My grade is as it is because all my other years of math have used a textbook series that is cumulative so going over one topic then moving to a completely different topic was foreign. I would strongly recomend having a class with Dr. Riley.

Riley is the best. For me 142 started off so difficult, I think I never got higher than a c- on my first three quizs. But I began to see she takes many of her quiz questions from the homework (or makes them similar). And towards the end of the quarter, she even tried boosting everyones grades by giving a few take home quizes and dropping the lowest quiz grade. Very NIIICE. Very predictable and straight forward final. Very neat and clear and understandable lectures, approacheable. Get her as your teacher

This professor is decent... It's easy to get behind and don't miss class because she takes away points for that. Quizzes are extremely hard, but midterm and finals are easier but she put tricky questions so watch out.

she definitely knows what shes talking about. she gives take home quizzes every so often if the class is doing poorly, especially since math142 is one of the harder classes in the calculus series. her curves on the midterms and class itself is very generous. definitely recommend her if you actually want to learn the material and do well in the class by putting in some effort.

She is a great teacher! Probably the best math teacher I have had. I would take her again, if I could. She does collect homework, but she does not give very many problems. Easier then a high school math class. If you get her, you are lucky and will have a great quarter.

Riley was an amazing teacher. Everything she covered in class was exactly what you saw in the homework. She spends most of the class lecturing, not only going over homework questions. Her tests were just like problems that you practice. Nothing should catch you off guard. I would love to take her again if I have the chance.

This teacher was a great teacher to take for my first quarter of math in college. She presented material in a very logical way and was willing to help whenever you were confused. As far as homework she collects one assignment out of a group so it is probably best to do all the homework. Had I not had the class at 7AM, I probably could've done better in the class but Ms. Riley is a great teacher.

A very good teacher. Conveys the subject very well and gives lots of examples to follow. Her midterms are not hard but aren't easy either. She doesn't surprise you on the midterm with problems you've never learned before; she tells you what to expect. Overall she is a great teacher and I recommend her to engineers who needs to take math courses in calculus.

I had Dr. Riley for Math 142 and I had a good experience with her teaching style. I found her teaching to be very straightforward and thought she explained the concepts well. The material was presented in a orderly, logical way that was easy to understand. Also her weekly quizzes and 2 exams were very fair. She does collect homework though but by the end of the quarter you are glad she does. She is very helpful in office hours and really just a nice person that cares about her students. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Riley for the calculus and wish that she was teaching 143 next quarter.

I took Kate Riley for Calc. 2 and she is GREAT. You have to do the homework but it is doable because she lays things out in class so that you know how to do the problems. She presents the concepts clearly and is willing to help you out if you have any questions. She is super helpful in office hours and quizzes and exams are very fair. I got a C because I completely slacked off and got behind.

Kate Riley is a great teacher! She is good at explaining the material in 142. This was my second try at Calc. II and it was so much easier because she was straightforward and clear when it comes to relaying the material. She likes your work to be orderly but I thought her grading was fair and the weekly quizzes are easy as long as you do the homework. Two midterms aren’t bad either. Another plus is that she is very personable. Nice lady! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

Kate Riley is a good math teacher. She can get confused herself sometimes and her 8am course is torture in its time slot alone, but she is understanding and actually hopes for her students to do well. She is straightforward in showing what is due and gives students a direct guide practically in how to do well in the class.

I thought Dr. Riley did a great job teaching Math 142 this quarter and have signed up with her next quarter!! I really liked her teaching style which introduced the math concepts to us by explaining the hows/whys and then she would go over many different types of problems. She knew everyone's name and would answer any questions we had. She was also very helpful in office hours. She is very personable and a nice person. She is someone who cares about how you are doing in her class. She gives two midterm exams and a final, weekly quizzes, and collects homework which makes you keep up. I would highly recommend Dr. Riley!!

Dr. Riley followed the book far too much and failed to deeply explain the material. She was basically copying from the book the whole time and the class was not enjoyable at all. It was like she was reading a script and poorly emphasized things. She didn't respond to emails at times and was basically a poor calc teacher who should be doing research if anything and not be teaching. My overall disappointment came from seeing her poor motivation to teach others and explain the material with more character.

Dr. Riley is very personable. She attempted (and succeeded) to learn every student's name. Her tests are difficult but she is a clear and fair lecturer and grader. Would recommend.

Kate Riley is an amazing professor. Very friendly and makes an effort to get to know her students. She makes the material easy to understand. We did have homework due, but i actually appreciated it since i have a hard time studying unless i have to. The quizzes and tests were fair. I took her my first quarter for calc 2 and decided to take her again for calc 3.

Honestly four 8ams aren't fun and it was really hard for me to comprehend anything that early in the morning, but her notes and examples are clear so it was very easy for me to figure it out on my own after class on those days I could barely keep my eyes open. The notes were very fast paced but we got out early sometimes and she got a lot of examples in so it was worth it I think. I understood everything really well, but unfortunately stupid mistakes cost me an A and since midterms and the final are worth SO MUCH it was hard to pull up my grade even though I always did really well on quizzes. She collects one hw a week but I definitely recommend doing them all. If you understand hw and the notes then you should be totally fine with quizzes, they're really similar. Overall great teacher and would love to have her again!

Professor Riley is a great professor. I had heard horror stories of college professors not having a very "involving" lecture, but Professor Riley proved that stereotype wrong. She has daily lectures which are very thorough and easy to follow. If you pay attention during lecture, the homework will be pretty easy. She has almost weekly "quizzes" which are factored into the homework portion of the grade, these quizzes are meant to prepare you for the two "midterms/tests" and the final. She collects homework at every quiz, homework is worth 10 points; the quizzes average between 30 or 40 points. The midterms are very much a compilation of all prior quizzes, they're not that difficult if you did well on the quizzes and homework. The final was TOUGH. It was a lot more challenging than the previous two midterms. The one thing about Professor Riley that I particularly didn't enjoy was how she pretty much enforced showing our work but also deducted points for showing the work. A prime example (that I was commonly docked for) was whenever integrating, forgetting to put in the respective dx term at the end of the integral. That would be an automatic -.5 of a point. Another example is whenever taking limits, you always have to write limit as x approaches infinity on EVERY line of work, or else that is more deducted points. She says that if you get the final answer incorrect but show your work, she'll give partial credit. However, you could get the answer correct but lose points because your shown work was sloppy. It's a double-edged sword. I'd still recommend taking Professor Riley for 143 though. 143 covers some of the material that was on the Calculus BC AP test, so for some, the first half of the course will be pretty much review of convergence and divergence of series.

Dr. Riley is very friendly and is a pretty good math teacher. The material isn't too bad either. quizzes were all pretty easy and manageable. the main thing that screwed me up in this class were the midterms and the final. I had a 96% on quizzes and homeworks but the midterm and final killed my grade. I knew the material very well, but couldn't finish either the midterm or final. Missing one question can bring your grade down to a B and minus a few little typical mistakes you're already down at a C. I got a B and a C on the midterms and a C on the final, a C in the class which brought me to the conclusion quizzes and homework are pretty much meaningless in terms of your grade, they just help you learn the material better. I'd recommend riley as a teacher but if you have her, practice the material enough so you can do very quickly and finish your tests.

She is a great teacher who knows how to present the material and care for her students. She even let us show up for an "extra" day of class every week because some people in our class were that dumb. Her exams were not hard but I goofed somehow on the final and that's how I got a C+, so be careful. Highly recommend

Riley is an awesome teacher. I just goofed up on quizzes and midterms, and was sick the entire quarter, so I got a D.. but really, she's a great professor. Do your homework so you'll do well on the quizzes, so you'll do well on the midterms, so you'll do well on the final.. That's all I really have to say.

KATE RILEY IS AWESOME!!!! She places bets against the class with cookies =D and she always shares with everyone. Not only is she a great person to be around and talk to, she's also a VERY VERY VERY good math teacher. This lady really knows how to teach. 143 is the hardest math class at Cal Poly and she makes it bearable. She gives great examples during class that are very similar to the things on the exams. I HIGHLY recommend her. TAKE HER TAKE HER TAKE HER!!!!!!

Dr. Riley is a great teacher that teaches well while not being overly serious in the classroom. I liked her method of giving quizzes which are followed by midterms that go over essentially the same material using a different problem. If you figure out what you're doing wrong on the quizzes, it's easy to get a good midterm grade. She actually wants people to do well in her class, so she'll drop a low midterm grade to help you out. Definitely figure out a way to get her on you schedule for any of the early calc classes.

just a little messy and unorganized on the notes, but other a good professor that is willing to help during her office hours. she knows her material well. I\'m definitely taking another class she\'s teaching again.

First of all, don\'t let my grade scare you. I\'m not a math person. But I would like to say that the hardest topic for me was series and sequences (chapter 12) which was about half of the final. Let me go on abou tmy review for this professor, she\'s alright. Her exams weren\'t toooooo bad. If you could do the homework, you\'d probably do fine. Quizzes every week, homework is required and one of the assignments (picked at random) is due the day of the quizzes, two midterms and a final. hw/quizzes 20%, 2 exams 50%, final 30%. One thing about her is that she doesn\'t really curve and she doesn\'t really give partial credit on anything. If she had given partial credit, I\'m pretty sure I would\'ve passed. So make sure you\'re background in calc 2 is strong. All-in-all, she\'s a friendly professor, a little bit disorganized, but I don\'t think I\'d take her a second time around.

Dr. Riley is awesome! She explains the concepts in a logical way and is very willing to help if you were confused. She was well organized, very straightforward, and explained the material well. Exams and quizzes are very doable if you do your homework. She had extra study sessions and office hours and gave handouts especially for the chapter 12 series and sequence stuff. She really cares about her students and very friendly and approachable plus knows how to teach. TAKE HER!!

Seriously, somebody needs to speak up about how awful Riley really is. If you have ever had a remotely competent math teacher or professor before, riley will not live up to your expectations. She pretends to be nice so that people will like her and give her good poly ratings scores, but there is nothing that I like about this woman. She makes mistakes all of the time while doing examples. She cares too much about the excruciating detail of your style, which caused me to not actually learn anything from her. Please, anyone else who feels this way, speak up now before too many other unsuspecting freshmen take her.

I had Dr. Riley last quarter for Math 143 and I thought she was awesome! I found her explanations to be clear and straightforward. I thought her quizzes and exams were fair. Basically if you did the homework and paid attention in class you were fine. I do have to say though that 143 is the hardest with the sequence and series chapter. I would definitely recommend her to others and would gladly take her again....in fact I tried to but had to register the second to last day and so didn\'t get in. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Dr. Riley is a really great teacher. She is friendly and she genuinely cares about her students and wants the best for them. She explains the materials very clearly. She spends little time talking about the concepts, and a lot of time doing examples. She makes sure she does all the different types of problems to prepare us for the homework and the tests. She also breaks her examples into steps, and they're quite easy to understand. Calc 3 was definitely a harder calculus course, but she made it pretty easy. Make sure to ask her questions if you don't get something. She'll be happy to help you. Her tests are not hard at all. Just study the hw and her examples and you'll be fine. I'd definitely recommend her for this class.

Dr. Riley is really great. I went into the class hearing how hard Calc 3 is and afraid I was going to fail. Dr. Riley is really good at teaching the material and does a good job of doing examples in class and telling you sometimes that this would be a good test question (so something similar will be on the test). Opposite of many in the class I struggled on the weekly quizzes she gives but did really well on both midterms. She has a policy which varies depending on how the class is doing but usually she will drop your lowest midterm score and replace it with the final score so if you bombed a midterm you can still pass the class if you do well on the final. Overall great calc 3 teacher, very funny and likes to talk to students before/after class, recommended!

Hands down the best math teacher I've ever had. She moves pretty fast through the material, but she teaches so well that it doesn't matter. I would definitely recommend going to office hours. Not only can you get to know her better (she's a really cool person to know), but she will do endless examples with you and help you rework problems you didn't understand. There's homework due every week, and it's a lot of problems. It sucks that you have to do so much homework, but I truly think the practice is what helped me get an A-. TAKE RILEY. You won't regret it.

Dr. Riley was a cool person. She liked to teach and interact with her students. She memorized all of our names and would call on us. She really made an effort to help us (e.g. she gave us material that could support us outside of class, like study sheets). Although sometimes her helpfulness would mean that we would take an extra day or two on a subject and then catch up, which resulted in a skipped section here or there, those extra days were important because when I took her exams, I felt that much more confident. Her homework assignments were fair (not too easy or too hard) and were collected weekly. Her homework collection structure inclined you do at least some of every assignment without having to do all of it. For instance, if you had a tough week in other classes, you could get by with doing only some of your homework. Very good at making tough concepts clear and appreciating you as a person. Highly recommend her class.

I'd echo the previous statements but would also like to add that her grading is ridiculous. Coming from Brussel's class where he'd give 5 minutes for a 15 minute quiz, I'd been conditioned to work as fast as possible to get the correct answer. Not in professor Riley's class. If your answer was correct, she'd go through and grade your work too. This meant that I failed the first two quizzes despite getting the final answers correct due to tiny quibbles with my work. It pissed me off to no end, but it wasn't worth fighting so I had to re-learn to show correct work. Dr. Riley is a decent professor for 143, just beware if you have any work habits that don't align with hers.

Riley is a great professor. I loved her lecture, She presents the material very clearly. There is graded HW but that shouldn't be a problem since the HW is only there to help you. Office ours are helpful as hell. Her class is not boring and it wont make you fell like you wanna shoot yourself like every other math class I've taken. Highly recommend her. She is very kind and emails back almost immediately. And everyday we have these before class discussions about concerts and skateboarding and fun stuff. yeah, just take her. she's great

Professor Riley is great! I loved our class and her teaching style. She presents the material in each section very clearly doing examples step by step. The homework that is required makes you keep up in class. She interacts with us, knows us by name, and answers emails. She is really helpful in office hours and doesn't make you feel stupid like some professors for asking questions. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Riley is a riot. She takes the time to learn everyone's name in class. She jokes around and is really funny. But be prepared to LEARN during this course. I was shocked on the first day when after ~15 minutes of intro, we shot right into new material and notes. I had to mentally prepare myself every morning during the first couple weeks of the quarter to be able to handle the amount of information she throws at you. Every lecture is important - don't skip any like I did. This class is very fast paced so do the homework on the day its assigned or else you can easily fall behind.

I took Riley for both Calc 2 and Calc 3. I did fine in Calc 2, but was failing a good portion of of Calc 3 before the second midterm, but it's not really Riley's fault the department shoves so much goddamn material into Calc 3 that usually doesn't make sense the first time you learn it (sequences and series comes to mind here). Her grading is harsh, and in my opinion the weekly quizzes are hard and the midterms have a level of challenge to them (although since I had her for Calc 2 I went into Calc 3 being able to finish the midterms on time.) Her finals are significantly more challenging than the midterms, but doable since you get so much more time. Her favorite thing ever to use in questions quizzes, midterms, and the final is trig, so know your trig derivatives/integrals/unit circle inside and out. The class is very fast paced, in Calc 2 we were a good deal ahead of some of the other classes, and all the crap that is in Calc 3 practically demands that every professor goes fast. On the plus side, she is really friendly and personable, and is always willing to work through problems and won't make you feel stupid if you ask about an algebra question. She was also willing to move the Friday 7-10am final to a better time! If you take her for two quarters she'll really like you, and she legitimately doesn't want her students to fail. She is pretty willing to explain anything from homework problems to what you did wrong on the midterm, and will go slower if you ask for it. TLDR: Nice person, great professor, harsh grader, know your trig. She is flexible and willing to work with you, put in some effort to show it to her and you will be fine.

Dr. Riley is one of my favorite professors. She is always happy to come to class. Her jokes are hilarious and she genuinely wants to get to know her students and see them succeed. Dr. Riley's lectures are awesome and I looked forward to attending each class. That being said, beware that this course will NOT be easy. Calc III was an extremely difficult for me despite that math has always come naturally to me, so this was a wake-up call. The midterms were long and there wasn't much partial credit on the first one. After failing the first midterm, I spent an inordinate amount of time doing and redoing and relearning the homework because there was SO MUCH NEW MATERIAL EVERYDAY that the old material would easily fade away. I then committed to a regular morning workout schedule (the ultimate stress and insomnia relief), joined a study session, and made serious improvements to my studying techniques including visiting office hours and spending long hours in the library. It paid off. I found myself focusing better and becoming quicker during the quizzes. Finishing the second midterm and the final with enough time to check answers became possible. Noticing the kinds of mistakes that I would make on the homework helped me know what to check for on the tests. Finally, I received an A on the second midterm, and must have had a decent grade on the final. tldr: Study. Be prepared for a challenge. Study. Work out. Join a study session which will really helps because sometimes Dr. Riley doesn't have the most intuitive way of explaining a concept. Breathe. Office Hours. Study.

Dr. Riley is a funny teacher and creates a pleasant learning environment in her classroom. Unfortunately, she does not recognize the strengths and difficulties of her students, and administers tests and quizzes which in no way reflect the format or difficulty of the homework she assigns. If you are assigned this professor, be prepared for a terrible surprise on test day. Every test day. Dr. Riley seems like she wants her students to learn, but does not know how to allow them to do that. She sometimes even teaches you a section one way, and then tests you in a different way. It's like she wants her students to fail. Calculus 3 is not a terribly hard subject, but it is with Dr. Riley. It is possible to receive an A if you devote 100% of your time to understanding her insanity, but while juggling 5 other classes, getting anything above a C is near impossible.

Excellent teacher at presenting the material clearly. Homework is assigned and due at the time of quizzes, as long as you do the hw you should be fine. Tests are too hard and she doesn't seem to recognize this. However, very good teacher for calc 3.

Great professor. Go to office hours if you're confused and you'll do well. Quizzes and tests are hard but fair. Do your hw and know how to do the problems and you won't have an issue. Calc III is a tough class but Dr. Riley made it bearable

Pros: Dr. Riley is super invested in her students' success, and almost too generous with her grading policies. For my class, she dropped the lowest quiz and let the final replace our lowest midterm (so it represented 50% of our grade). Additionally, she assigns in class worksheets and homework assignments which are super easy to get an A on. She does a bunch of little things which make class more fun, like conversing with students before class starts, making jokes, or sharing ideas for inventions. Also, the free pdf of the textbook (13th edition) is online and has the exact same problems as the 12th. Cons: Dr. Riley moves very fast during lecture, and if you haven't studied the material before class starts, you will likely get lost once or twice. I ended up just binging Professor Leonard and doing other homework during her class because I was always behind. She does her best with the time she's given, but for me at least, this was pretty much an online class with physical office hours and tests.

Never did I think I would ever write such a positive review for math 143 and Dr. Riley but she deserves it. Up until week 7 I thought I was going to fail the class, but with her help I got an A. AN A! Calculus on a quarter system is going to be fast and hard no matter who you have. Even though I understood the material, when it came to the quizzes and exams I just couldn’t figure out those specific problems. I like to figure things out on my own but after Dr. Riley approached me in class and nicely encouraged me to go to her office hours I couldn’t say no. She truely cares about her students and wants everyone to succeed. For the next 3 weeks I went to her office hours every time (3 days a week) and boy did it help. GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS. She gives you practice problems that are so similar to the midterms and finals it’s crazy. As in I got a 96% on the final because I knew the exact type of questions that were going to be asked. Overall the coursework load is standard. Hw due about every 1-2 weeks. Only had about 4 quizzes and the lowest was dropped. The final replaced the lowest midterm. In class worksheets where you work with a group about every couple weeks. Always go to the lecture the day before an exam because she gives the class practice problems that are very similar to the exams. TAKE HER AND IF YOU DO GO TO HER OFFICE HOURS AND BECOME HER FRIEND AND YOU WILL GET A GOOD GRADE

No. Please no. Nothing about this class, taught by this human being, is okay. Get out while you still can.

Riley is so sweet and really wants her students to succeed. Sometimes she can present things fast and move too quickly, but she's always willing to spend extra time to help you. If you have her don't worry you'll be fine, just make sure to go into her office hours if things get confusing and that will make the class very easy!

Professor Riley means well, but goes way too quickly through the material. She asks if we got it and we say "no" then she ignores us and continues on as if no one said anything. If she slowed down a little and took more interest in her student's overall grades, I would have done a much better job in the class. I enjoyed the material, but I really was not prepared well.

Kate Riley is easily the best Math teacher at Cal Poly. She was easy to listen to, and made sure everyone understood the material. She proved that teachers don't have to be assholes to try to get their students to work harder for their class. Definitely take Riley, theres no question shes the best

Dr. Riley is an amazing teacher. Her explanations are clear and her grading reasonable. It seemed like everyone in her class was experiencing success this quarter. She does assign homework multiple times a week (it is also collected) but it is extremely helpful when it comes to the quizzes and exams seeing as most of the problems come straight out of the text. 5 Quizzes, 2 Exams, and a handful of furloughs. GREAT CLASS! TAKE HER IF YOU CAN.

Kate is a wonderful professor. She is super nice and always answers questions to the best of her ability. She is also willing to give you extra help in office hours if you get stuck. Her grading is very specific because she expects a certain style for your problems. She just likes things to be orderly, but if you do your homework how she recommends that the problems are to be done, the quizzes and tests follow the same style. A lot of partial credit is taken off for stupid mistakes, and expect to spend time evaluating everything for the precise answer. Check your work and keep up on the homework and you will be fine! Two midterms, weekly quizzes and the final. If the class does poorly on a midterm she will replace the lower midterm score with your final score.

she is awesome. very straightforward and explains the material well. midterms are of average difficulty, but they are representative of the homework. she doesn't try to screw you over like other math teachers and put random stuff on tests. aside from that, she's fun and a joy to be around, esp if you have math early in the morning. TAKE HER!

She was honestly the best math teacher I have had at Cal Poly so far. The only thing is she does not give very much partial credit at all so you need to make sure you make No stupid mistakes. She gives 4 quizzes, homework, and 2 midterms. The nice part was she replaced our lowest midterm w/ whatever we got on the final so she is very very fair in that respect. I would absolutely take her again though!

Great teacher. I feel that she made linear analysis not as difficult as some other professors seem to make it (according to friends), though the theory behind some of the matrix-related material was still a bit hazy. However, even though some of that was a bit hazy, you would easily be able to know what to do for homework (especially since she'll go over each type of major problem in class behind you do the homework). As long as you do the homework and study a bit for midterms, you should be fine, and the time alottment on midterms is very fair, allowing for plenty of time to check your work. DO check your work, since on some problems, if you screw something up in the process, you may end up with a different kind of form to put your answer in and whatnot. Not much partial credit is given for matrix-related problems, since it's basically all about row reducing accurately.

dr. riley is really awesome. she really cares about her students and it shows. make sure to try and talk to her, she loves to hear what you have to say and it makes her like you. her grading policy was a little irritating, small homeworks were worth the same a as large projects, but all in all, wants her students to succeed. her quizzes are harder than you think they will be.

I had a horrible time with this professor because she doesn't seem to be willing to change her mind once she has decided something. Her grading rubric is totally stupid. For being a math teacher she is just not logical. It may just be me, but she is one of my least favorite teachers in the whole department

Dr. Riley may be great for the lower level math classes, but my experience for upper level was not good. We conducted peer grading that accounted for 60% of our grade in the class with a highly subjective rubric - this means another student in the class graded your project. If you get a student grader that's an easy grader, you are good to go and will get an A in the class as long as you do ok on the mini quizes and the mini projects that are actually graded by Dr.Riley. BUT if you get a student grader that is harder, this means you will not get the A you think you deserve. I paid $1000 for this class and I didn't learn much because the big projects were never graded by the teacher and instead graded by students who have VERY little experience grading, let alone VERY little experience with creating lesson plans. I was very disappointed in this experience and hope my future higher level math classes do not conduct peer grading for 60% of my grade in the class.

In my experience with Math 300 I learned a ton about geometers sketchpad and alot of useful stuff about excel. The part about peer grading was not the best for some people in class but I think Dr. Riley is going to change this or at least that is what she told one of my friends. The major part of the problem was that there were way too many people in the class. To her credit though Dr. Riley told us that she would regrade anyone's big project if they felt slighted as far as points. In all, I have alot of great activities that I can use when I am teaching.

I had Dr. Riley for math 300 last quarter and was disappointed how the major projects that we spent so much time on were not graded by the teacher. Many in the class were unhappy with the peer grading aspect as many stayed after class to talk about it, and I really feel Dr.Riley should have modified the class in order to resolve the issue instead of doing the same thing for the subsequent 2 projects. I've had other instructors at poly who realized something not working and made changes in order to fix it soon after noticing.

Yes, she is a great teacher because she is approachable and nice. But, this quarter for MATH 300 she expected us to know so much geometry that we have not done since middle school. It is a support course for Teaching Concentration so she thinks we should already know this geometry material since we want to be teachers. Those expectations are not reasonable and make her class difficult. Other than that, great teacher but not loving the expectations

This class was fun and really interesting... However, I didn't like her grading system... The activities were not worth many points, and that's what we did 90% of the class. There is a written portion of the exams that is just stupid and is more than half of the points of the exam. I wish she will emphasize more on testing us on being able to use the technology than knowing the parts of the program. She grades everything (there was no peer-grading, only peer-reviewing, which is a great idea). Overall, this class was really, really awesome... the activities were well written and organized... and you learned a lot about GSP5 and Excel.

Kate Riley is a fabulous teacher. I would recommend her for the whole math series...327-349. She is so good with her students and is always ready to help. Her lectures are very clear and well strutured. Her tests are exactly what she has taught and are very straigh forward. I learned so much in her class and had fun in the process!

Great math Professor. She is creative and helpful. The tests and quizzes were exactly what you were expecting, and it was easy to get points. A word to the wise---don't miss class and DON'T show up more than 5 minutes late.

Kate Riley is an awesome professor that really tries to make the class fun and interesting. She brings in a lot of outside activities to do, to get away from book work all the time. Her tests are right out of her quizzes and homework, so if you study those you should be fine. Overall Riley is a great professor, and I would highly recommend her.

Dr. Riley really cares about her students and wants you to learn the material. I bombed the first test, had an F most of the quarter and ended up pulling off an A... after working my ass off. Sometimes she goes quickly over the material so be sure to read the book and do homework in addition to going to class. If you ever need help- just ask, she is a really nice, personable lady!

At first I was really nervous about this class but that is because I don't like math. Professor Riley really cares about her students. She expects alot but in the end this is good because she is just trying to help you learn. She lays things out and tells you what to expect on the tests. I loved her way of reviewing for the exams by having us go to the board and practice problems. Overall, I think she is fair and I would recommend her.

Kate is an extremely nice professor who is willing to help students to succeed. There were 2 midterms and several quizzes to help us prepare for the midterms. They are very doable if you do your readings and homework assignments. We were also expected to use Geometer Sketch Pad to construct different figures which was pretty rad. Although at times she was too picky and it was impossible to figure out what she wanted us to do but overall I think anyone will be able to pass the class if you come to her office hours to get help.

Someone better tell the dark side of this so-called teacher. She put formulas on the board and did not explain or know where they came from. On 2 occasions the problems she had on the final and midterm could not be solved. She may be able to teach something she knows, but she knows next to nothing about modern geometry. I feel this class was close to the shittiest I have had at Poly, and believe me, I have had some extremely shitty classes.

Dr. Riley is an awesome teacher! She is a very nice grader and provides every possible chance to succeed. She was disliked by some individuals in my class, but mainly they are just the ones trying to pick a fight which is unfortunate for the rest of the class who has to put up with them. =( Back to Dr. Riley...sometimes the in-class proofs are a little confusing, but if you take the time to glance at the theorems and definitions in the book they will make sense. She does a lot of the homework during class which is nice. The tests are very fair but the questions come from both the text and the handouts--so study both! She is a very caring teacher and will go the extra mile to help any student in her class. Take Dr. Riley...she's AWESOME!