Rahman, Shikha  

Civil and Environmental Engineering

3.58/4.00

19 evaluations


CE 336


5th Year Senior
B
Required (Major)
Feb 2008
She sucked. death by powerpoint!!!


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Dec 2008
Sorry for the people below, but our class got packets of notes! The only thing we had to write were the solutions for the example problems. Good lectures. The class has lots of very practical applications. She has an accent, but as with all teachers who come from other countries you understand everything they are saying after a few weeks. Good office help and cares very much that you succeed, but she will not curve, so you better be prepared to put in some effort. However, it is a good thing that she prints out the note packets for you because she teaches at ludicrous speed straight into plaid.


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2009
Dr. Rahman is definitely among the class of great CE professors at Cal Poly. Although she did use powerpoint, she did plenty of examples on the board during class, and is among the nicest professors you'll ever meet. She's fantastic during office hours, and knows her stuff. Furthermore, her tests are very fair. I would highly recommend her.


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2009
She is a great teacher who gives many examples and goes over enough theoretical detail to not bog you down but still allow you to understand. The only compliant i have is she can be quick during lecture so pay attention. She prints out her notes so its not that big of deal. The tests are super easy if you understand the hw questions. Like its said below she gives a extra 15% bonus question on the three midterms and finals. On a side note I have a 2.7 GPA and got above a 100% in this class. You do the math. If i think this class is easy... its easy


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Aug 2010
Dr. Rahman is a great professor. She has an accent, but it is pretty easy to understand her. She prints out packets of notes, so the note taking is minimal, and her tests are super easy! Bonus questions on each test and easy questions. Our class average on tests was between 88% and 90% for both midterms! The class is easy mainly because she doesn\'t expect you to get into the details, just to know the main concepts (which are very easy). Homework is done in groups, and you give yourself a group name (which can get pretty funny, as she doesn\'t understand many of our youth/slang terms). But overall a great teacher, very nice, very helpful, and always encourages students to ask questions.


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Apr 2011
Great instructor; very nice; easy grader. If she's an option, I'd advise taking her class.


5th Year Senior
A
Required (Major)
Jan 2014
Shikha is funny. Her classes are easy. Easy A. You still have study but the material is not hard and she gives a lot of bonus points on her exams so its easy to do good on her exams. good luck.


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2015
Professor Rahman was very nice to me and always helped me out on my homework assignments. I do think that there are some students she dislike in class. She tends to be very sassy with them and sometimes call out students who sleep in her class. My biggest concern is that she doesn't respond to emails at all. She expects that you visit her office hours instead. Other than that, I think she is a good professor. She uses PowerPoint notes that we print out and is very organized. She posts past midterms on PolyLearn. For most of the homework, you have to work in a group. The homework is usually not hard though. Occasionally, there would be one or two longer programs that are a bit more difficult. I found the final to be much harder than the two midterms. All three weren't bad though.


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Jun 2016
Very clear in presenting the material and what she expects you to know for the exams. Homework can be time consuming but its all group work so if you want you can only do like one problem per week.... however, I recommend working through all of them. Overall pretty easy class as long as you put the work in. Concepts are pretty black and white, just figure out what formula and coefficients to use and you are set. If you hated ME341 don't fear, CE336 is WAAAAYYYYYY better and understandable.

CE 337


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2015
Very straight forward on what she wants for the lab reports. Just follow the syllabus instructions and pay attention to the pre-lab lectures, and the labs are pretty easy. Most of the time you will get out 1-2 hours early. She is a nice lady, but not good at responding to emails, so you are on your own when it comes to any questions on the lab reports. Not a hard class, but expect 3-5 hours per week on the lab reports.

CE 433


5th Year Senior
A
Elective
Dec 2011
Dr. Rahman is great and this class is pretty easy. There is no book, just the packets of notes she hands out with her Power Point slides on them. The homework is usually pretty similar to the examples from the notes but it sometimes take a good chunk of time to get through. Her tests are super easy (88%-95% class average) mainly because she has a very doable 15 point bonus question at the end of the test. No major complaints for this class/teacher...take it if looking to fill in some ATE credit.

CE 440


Senior
A
Elective
Jul 2008
She did have powerpoint lectures but each one had multiple examples that required you to copy down what she did on the board. They were very helpful to do the homework. The homework wasn't anything out of the ordinary and you usually worked on it with your group (This has a lab that she where she puts you in groups of four.) There were two midterms which were straight forward if you did the homework. Each one has a bonus problem on it which is almost like free points because they're relatively easy. Her final was somewhat tricky and took the whole time but I admit I didn't study much because I already had a high grade. She is also really helpful in office hours and a really nice lady. Lastly and probably the only thing that really matters is that between Lo, Daza, Malreaddy, and Rahman she is the least boring and most straightforward. Thus, you actually learn something in a water class while getting a pretty good grade.


5th Year Senior
B
Elective
Apr 2009
I had Dr. Rahman for 336 and did not like her teaching style but now that I took 440 with her I have definitely changed my opinion. If you're semi-competent and want a B or higher then take this class with her. You barely have to take notes because she prints out a small packet of her notes for every student each lecture and you just have to follow along and make minor extra notes for your own personal references. Even if you don't show up to class she posts every item you ever get on blackboard including hw/lab/midterm solutions and practice midterms/finals (she does take attendance every day though so you might as well go and listen). There's 2 midterms and a final which are straightforward and slightly conceptual but not meant to stump you if you have studied decently or paid attention all quarter. Each of the 3 tests have a bonus problem at the end that is pretty much a freebie if you get to it, so I suggest when you take the exams and you get stuck on a problem or see you only have 20 minutes left to just skip to the bonus problem and finish it fast and then go back to the harder problems. The amount of homework and labs she gives can be a little annoying because you will have a HW and/or Lab due every Thursday/Friday that take 3-6 hours to finish and sometimes more because they require WaterCAD/StormCAD/Excel to complete. Labs can be finished the day you are assigned them if you just stick around, she will probably help you all the way through it and doesn't really care how much help you ask for. The boost from good hw/lab scores will ensure your A or B in the class so don't take it for granted and, not surprisingly, they will help you greatly in preparation for the tests. There's not much more I can add or want to go into detail about because this is just a cake class that is actually interesting as well. Oh yea, potluck on the last day of lab during dead week. One last thing, write/print good cheat sheets because she gives you 2 each test and 6 total on the final... put HW solutions on them if you're smart.


Graduate Student
A
Required (Major)
Feb 2011
Group HWs, 2 midterms, final. Very straightforward in lecture and very helpful in office. Great professor and very nice!


Senior
A
Elective
Jun 2011
Dr. Rahman is awesome. You have to be a little proactive about staying on top of the quirks of the methods introduced in class. Dr Rahman is really helpful during office hours, and she makes it very easy for you to improve upon your mistakes: homework solutions, midterm solutions, plenty of review, and bonus problems. Shot me up from a B- to an A. Giggity.


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Mar 2015
I could see why many students like Dr Rahman however, that may have been before, in her good days. She is not a good instructor by marginal means; she has a lot of favoritism. As a woman who has been disrespected by professors at Cal Poly, it bothers me to witness an educated women put down and discourage her male students. I have been there, it was not a pleasant feeling. I have had the delight of talking to her about women in engineering when I was thinking of leaving. She was more than encouraging for me to stay. I just don’t think she would do as much for men, given that she tends to show a little more disrespect.


Junior
A
Elective
Feb 2016
Shikha is a fantastic professor and was very helpful with answering question you might have. She does lecture by powerpoint but then you don't have to buy a book, so thats a plus. Her tests usually consist of one hard and one easy problem but she always gives a bonus problem so that really helps your grade.

CE 538


5th Year Senior
A
Elective
Jul 2012
I've had Dr. Rahman for 336, 538, and 539. She's a great teacher but heavily relies on Powerpoint. A lot of her examples are found online so a couple of times she forgets what assumptions were made or why they decided to solve it a certain way. She always gives bonus points on her exams so that helps a lot with overall grade but isn't helpful for real world challenges. She has somewhat of an accent and is still trying to understand American culture. Nonetheless, she is a great professor and I'd recommend her if you want to get into Water Resources.


Senior
A
Required (Support)
Sep 2012
To be honest I am actually quite stunned that Dr. Rahman doesn't have a near 4.0 rating. Far and away the best teacher I have ever had. I had her 5 times (CE 336, CE 440, CE 433, CE 538, CE 539) and each time was the same - amazing. The material is presented clearly, she hands out note packets every class, the homework is challenging but not difficult, the tests are fair and not super easy so when you figure out an answer you actually feel like you have accomplished something. Unbelievably nice and incredibly helpful in office hours and knows almost all her students by name. The only criticism I can possibly think of is that it slightly tilted me that she would put her decimal points at the top of the number instead of the bottom but that's a cultural thing so w/e. You absolutely cannot ever go wrong by taking a class from Dr. Rahman.