Stankus, Mark  

this guy....stanks.

I consider myself a fairly decent math student, but after taking his class I felt like I knew nothing or even less than I did before the class. His lectures are dry and so quick, you can hardly grasp a concept before he asks "any questions?" And you feel to embarressed to say "I have no idea what you are talking about." I repeated the class with Jim Mueller and got a B, he knows how teach, and really cares if you learn. Take Jim Mueller

I took the "honors" versions of MATH 133 and MATH 241, which seemed exactly the same as the normal ones. I think I got an A in 133 and a B in 241. Stankus is - as most math professors - a fairly boring lecturer, but he knows his stuff well and his lectures were informative. Homework is collected which is annoying. Also, I don't know if it was just my quarter, but his grader is terrible, but just go show him the mistake and you'll get your points back. I had to do that like 5+ times in one quarter. His midterms and finals are fairly hard, but not terrible and he grades fair.

Mr. Stankus was in my eyes a pretty ineffective teacher. He basically came in, threw his bag on the table and copied his notes onto the blackboard for 50 minutes straight. He didn't seem very personable at all and always seemed annoyed if we had homework questions to ask. For me the biggest turn-off for any teacher is when you can tell that they don't have their heart into teaching a subject and seem to do it only as a job, and that's how I felt about him. There are too many other more effective Calculus teachers out there to take besides him.

If you are a lecture intensive learner, then I can't suggest Dr. Stankus. He moves a mile a minute, and if you lag for even a moment, you may lose him entirely. He does a good job clarifying stuff after class and at his office hours, but if you take him, it is very important to read the book ahead of time, and then use his lectures to clarify concepts that were unclear in the class.

NOTE TO ALL: Stankus changed his policies, he now collects homework, which was the only reason that I took him again for 142. He grades it VERY hard. His tests are very hard. ...but the worst thing about him- he dosen't allow note cards, he dosen't give you any useful formulas on tests, and he dosen't allow calculators. You will have to memorize the sea of 142 formulas. The final will be hell without them. There are so many other, well at least decent 142 teachers, take someone else. He is a nice guy, but he dosen't sympathize with students. If you take him anyway, good for you, but be ready to earn your way to 143. You will learn a lot, but you'll really have to work for your passing grade.

Stankus really wasnt a bad professor, and believe me i probably have set the record for most amount of shitty professors. I have to say that he is a genius though and his speedy math skills proves it. He was really helpful and I definately learned the subject from him. The only downside is that his tests are so incrediably hard that I couldnt pass any of them. If you take him just nevermind your buddys sitting in the back of the class, sit in the front row with a FULL notebook for notes, because you will use all the pages. I ended that class with 60 pages worth. And BTW he was really helpfull in his office hours.

This guy does not know how to lecture a class. He writes on the bored faster than you can read. He gives hard tests and his review sessions are almost pointless. The whole time I was in his class I was worried about getting all the notes and I couldnt understand what he was talking about. The only good thing about him is he is pretty helpful in his office hours. If you are willing to take the time to go in and see him it does help. He will sit there with you for as long as it takes and explain the problems to you. I wouldnt take him again.

I think that Stankus is a pretty fair guy. His class was hard, but I learned a lot. His jokes aren't funny, but it's funny to watch him try. The class is straight forward and his tests, though hard, aren't tricky and he grades fairly. In class, its hard to have a question ready and even if you do, he might not answer it well, but if you go to office hours he's really friendly and helpful. He's a good teacher.

STANKUS SUCKS A BIG FAT COCK! His writing on the chalkboard seriously does look like chicken scratch, and he writes super fast. People will have their hands up in class to ask a question and he won't even acknowledge them, he'll just keep on writing without making any sense and try to crack a cheap ass joke to make us laugh. His tests are pretty difficult and a lot of people usually don't finish. HE IS NOT A NICE PERSON, HE IS REALLY MEAN AND INCONSIDERATE He does not give examples with real numbers, only proofs with about 6 variables. So once you have to solve a problem with real numbers you won't be able to beccause he never gave you an example in class Mark Stankus is the devil.

I am horrified at some of the comments about Stankus. True, he is not the best teacher in the world. However he is definitely not the worst or by any means an inconsiderate or cruel person. Anyone who thinks so obviously has never gone to office hours or spoken to him at all. He presents the material to the best of his ability and helps his students as much as he can. He really does mean well and will put in whatever extra time necessary to help you learn the material. You may have to take the initiative and get extra help if you need it. As I said before, he is not the best or worst teacher. He teaches some things better than others, but will answer any questions you have or do any problems you ask. You just have to ask him instead of sitting on your butt and getting frustrated.

Professor Stankus is a good instructor. Although he tends to lecture throughout the whole period, he makes you understand the material well. When taking his class, be prepare with a stack of paper, cuz it's gonna take more than a couple to write down everything he writes on the board. Most of the stuff he shows you on the board are examples, but it helps to see him do it in class. His tests are Fair, you won't fail if you know how to do the homework and you will have EXACTLY enough time to do all the problems, he seems to make the test exactly 50 min long.

He's hard, and he goes really fast in class. You really wonder how he did something and when he asks "are there any questions?", you look at him with a blank stare. then, he continues. However, if you see him in his office hours he will explain every concept and step that he does until you get it. He's a good teacher. If you want a teacher that can keep up with you, he's your man. Don't take him if you want an easy A. YOU WILL LEARN! I like him.

"Any questions?" Whenever people DO ask questions, he does a very good job at explaining the problem and possible strategies as to how to solve similar problems. But if nothing is asked, he moves at a lightning pace. Sometimes he will completely lose us in his lecture, stop, ask if we have any questions (although we don't know what he just said) and will continue on. Dr. Stankus is probably at his best during his office hours. He will make no attempt to learn anyone in the class; we'e all just another round of students passing through. The exams are VERY difficult, but doable (for the most part - if you study, study, study). But I guess if you're willing to put in a lot of time into his class, you can get a bit out of it.

Doesn't collect hw. Hard/impossible to follow in class. Tests are fairly difficult. Despite his teaching ability he is very easy to go to for additional help. Passing his class requires more than a basic understanding of calc

I'll try not to repeat everything said above... He does move fast in class, but I soooo much prefer that to some of the slow dinosaurs who take the entire class just to do one or two examples. I enjoy math but hate calc, missed a lot of class, and still managed to pass, so I wouldn't worry too much. He is very helpful in office hours, doesn't collect homework, and will usually divert lecture time to answering homework questions if there are any. He wasn't a stellar teacher, but I'd recommended him over all the other math teachers I've had at Poly.

This guy has to be one of the clumsiest teachers I have ever had. He is always bumping into the wall and breaking his chalk all over the place. He just copies his notes on the board, and if you dont sit front row center, his lectures sound like mumbeling. His weekly quizzes are straight from the homework problems, but his tests are fairly hard. I think Stankus is really good at math, he just dosen't know how to teach it well.

Mr Stankus - the name says it all... he stinks. I have never smelled such a foul man in my life. Never ask him to help you with a problem unless you like the smell of skunk over your shoulder. He never seemed to talk to anyone beside the white board. I ended up mesmorized by the clock ticking away on the wall. His tests are a joke. Nobody in there right mind would know how to answer his questions. It is hard to concentrate when your teacher is hauking mucus into the trashcan... enough said.

Over all I like Stankus, but some people hate him. If you do all of you homework and attend one or two office hours it would be hard to get below a C in the class. His test are fair and his grading system is real fair. If you want an easy A don't take him.

this guy used to have a curve, but apparently not any more. you have no idea how frustrating this guy is especially if there is something that your not completely sure about. you can go into a lecture knowing more than when you come out. that is not a good sign. i feel sorry for anyone who takes him as a teacher.

I don't really know what all the people were talking about before. I thought that Dr. Stankus did a fine job teaching this class. I'm not going to lie. Yes, he does teach the course at a rapid pace. But this is so he can have time to do example problems and just help you understand more. If you take good notes you should be fine. I never once went to office hours and got an A. Just one word of advice, when ever he asks "Any Questions?" be sure to ask one, he will not mind.

The only way that I can describe Stankus is as a horrible teacher. Not only did he not know how to teach but I really don't think he knew anything about calculus either. I would go into class having read the book to understand the concept and after an hour of his copying his notes on the board I would be more confused then ever. His homework load is easy but his tests are killer. Most of the things he teaches us wouldn't even be on the tests. Trust me don't take Stankus.

The first thing you will realize when you take Stank-dog's class, is that he LOVES "the box," because he uses a box in every problem. The guy rarely jokes around, but when he does, his idiotic comments are hilarious. One time in class he thought he smelled smoke, and smugly said, I hope the campus isnt burning down. Noone laughed except him. He isn't the best at explaining work, but if you can keep up with him you will do fine. The tests are pretty much like the homework, no surprises, and he is a fair grader, just don't ever leave out dx. You will love this guy's class because of how much of a dork he is.

Don't take Stankus. He is the type teacher that is a total genius. When he does problems, he skips mad steps, and goes extremely fast. He wasn't a big help in office hours and generally wasn't a nice guy. His tests are MUCH more difficult than the homeworks.

With this teacher, you won't be able to tell the difference between teaching and scribbling a bunch of chicken scratch on the board. He usually gives a lot of problems on his tests, and expect us to finish in time. His homework load is way too much, some 30 problems with a, b and c. The truth is, i learned nothing from this teacher. What i did find out is that i love math. Someone told me that if you still love math after sitting in the most boring unproductive math class in your life, then it's not infatuation, but that you really do love it.

I like this class! Stankus does a great job of teaching the material, after Kennedy last quarter, Stankus is a calulous god. he writes really fast, you learn to take notes quite quickly, it's more humorous than frustrating because he pauses to let you catch up. The guy is all about calc, he talks it with his friends. he is such a charicter. he does collect homework and graes it, but gives al least 2 days to do it. he also assigns questions reading in chapters ahead, it helps to stagger the information we are learning so we have like tree days of each topic instead of one, helps it all sink in. so far, the tests are very managable. a very smart guy.Over all I totally enjoy his class.

Stankus is definitely your typical math genius. There's no question about his knowledge of the subject, but if you need extra help, take advantage of his office hours. He'll move very quickly in class, and you have to be vocal just to get a question in. He's a very generous grader (partial credit everywhere), and his tests are fairly simple. You do get a large homework load, but that's nothing compared to the notes this guy gives. You should NEVER miss a lecture because of the pace of this class. He's a pretty nice guy, and the class is usually pretty interesting. Just don't expect to laugh at his dorky jokes.

okay, Stankus is not as bad as these other people are making him out to be. He's not the best teacher out there and ...granted he's like speed racer with his chalk there... but he explains the material ok. he gives homework every night thats on the lecture from 2 days previous and thats pretty annoying.. but i did it just fine. he doesnt even grade the homework himself .. he asks for student volunteers so if you want a perfect score, just ask to grade. he has 5 quizzes that are 2 questions each and they are generally pretty easy. and there are 2 midterms and a final. and your lower midterm score is covered up by the final's score if thats higher. i mean i dont think ive ever gotten a B in a math class.. but this is college right. overall its an ok class. but thats coming from a math major.

if u dont mind him just doin examples and not really explaining anythin, then hes alrite. i failed cuz i stopped doin the hw's cuz i didnt know how to do most of it and in turn i failed the quizes and midterms. good luck if u take this guy.

Stankus I thought was ok. I would not recommend him, but he's not horrible. He does a poor job explaining the material, but his test are straightforward.

He does seem like a robot sometimes, but answers questions very clearly. His tests are all reasonable, and you'll never feel like you don't have enough time. There are better math profs out there, but Stankus isn't as bad as his Polyratings say he is.

Stankus is a fairly nice guy. He'll go out of his way to try and help you if you ask him. However, his grading on the tests is completely skewed. Doing well on the homework and the quizzes isn't enough for a B or higher in the grade due to the fact that he'll throw random ball-park questions out there. The way he grades his tests can lead to a lot of hatred, considering that most of his "class averages" are 58s and 65s out of 100. His lectures are sometimes easy to follow, and sometimes not. He gives you no time to digest the information you took in, so sometimes, you come out being more confused about the homework than if you had just actual read the book yourself. Word of advice. If you take his class, make sure you have the solutions manual so you can see how each question is done. It helps. It gives you a slightly better edge than most, and it'll help you at least get 100% of the points on the homework so you have something to boost your grade after the terrible test grades.

If you enjoy being lost in class and listening to monotone speech the entire quarter (as if calculus isn't already exhausting), then you should take Prof. STank ass. He rarely completes his examples and when somebody gets the nerve to wake up and ask a question, he rarely answers the question and instead prefers to delve deeper into confusion. Avoid if possible.

Ok I dont think any normal person could like his class. Sure he is nice, and attempts at helping you succeed but his tests are ridiculous! Here are his problems: Tests: Every problem is as hard as it can get without being unreasonable. He throws in all these little tricks. And if you dont understand the "trick" then you cant do the problem even if you know how to do the problem. They also are really long, and only about 1/3 of the class actually finishes. HW: He docks you down a lot points if you make one mistake. you pretty much have to use the solutions manual even tho he told us to throw it away. Teaching: He makes a lot of mistakes in class. When the problem gets hard he gives up saying "no one in the county could do this" BUT THOSE ARE THE KIND OF PROBLEMS HE PUTS ON THE TEST!!! Helping students in class: He always is asking if anyone has a question. No one typically does ask a question because when he tries to answer it, He asks the you (with the problem) how to do it! How can he expect us to do it if we are asking the questions. And finally, his tests again: I cant reiterate enough how much his test STANK US. His tests are designed for only the best students in the class. Seriously if you dont understand everything completely you wont finish and will prolly get below a 70. The class averages were between 50-60. In conclusion, Anyone who wants to succeed in his class better be a genius. I got an A no problem in Calc 141 and i struggled to get the grade I got.

I worked my arse off for this class and wasn't rewarded for it at all. He will hit you with problems on tests and quizzes that make you think "Wha....?" Most people that leave the class after a test/quiz look pissed off and angry because of how unfair they are. When students ask questions, the responses that he gives make absolutely no sense. He made cookies for us twice, which was nice. Ooh, and his homework grading will rape you. I turned in 8 pages of homework and got a 8/10 on it because there was a cos switched with a sin somewhere... He is not human.

Ok so I got a 60 on the first midterm and a 34 on the second. I study my butt off to try and pass the final (which replaced the bad midterm if I did better) and I passed with a C-! His tests are extreme! Definitely one of my least favorite professors.

I'd would not recommend Mark Stankus. If you take him make sure you sit in the front of the class because sitting in the back is liking shooting yourself in the foot. Its pathetic when your dorm mates come to you for help with calc when they're getting B's and A's in their calc classes while your trying harder than any class before just to pass. You will spend hours doing the homework finding that a problem you've only done 2 of out of 60 will show up on his midterm or tests. He will basicly tell you before the final you should study everything because its all fair game. He will intentionally give you a super difficult problem next to a simple one, and put the same amount of space to finish each problem, just to mess with your head. My dorm mate got a 5 on the calc AP test and still got a D in his class. If I hadn't gotten a C- like I did I would have wrote a department complaint. I've taken teachers with bad poly ratings before (cross, de merritt, fitzpatrick) but Stankus has been the worst by far. Do yourself a favor and get out while you can.

I am not going to come straight out and say he is a bad teacher, because he isn't, but he should NOT being teaching Calculus 2 or for that matter any Calculus class. He talks way to technical and quite frankly computer nerds shouldn't teach math anyway. He talks like his students should understand the material because he can and unless your able to understand the concept on your own good luck

Stankus is a good teacher. He has two midterms and a final. There are weekly quizzes on the last day of the week. They aren't bad at all. Two problems at most. There is homework due every week that took some time, but probably the same amount of problems in other calc. 142 courses. Stankus will start off shy to his students but I think he warmed up by the end of the quarter and more open during the lectures.

Professor Stankus is very fast in his lectures and this makes him rather hard to learn from except by scribbling down on your notes everything he throws on the board in rapid motion, then try to decipher it later at home. His grading system is a little unusual; He grades on a (1/3) system where the midterms are worth 1/3 of the grade, the daily homework is worth 1/3 of the grade, and the final is worth 1/3 of the grade. However, there are 2 midterms and the final grade will replace the lowest midterm grade so that in affect the final is worth about half your grade. I do give him credit though for trying to improve his teaching abilities. If you present an aspect of his teaching to him that needs work, he will try to make himself a better teacher.

Stankus is hard. He really knows his math, but he has trouble explaining it in a clear way to his students. On top of that, he writes faster than anyone thought possible so half the time I was just trying to catch up with what he wrote minutes before instead of listening to what he was saying. Furthermore, there is a daily quiz that is usually just one question so you either get the points or you don\'t. I\'m not saying he\'s a bad teacher, he is just more difficult than most. So be prepared.

He's really not that bad... just can't really recognize that students can have difficulty grasping some concepts. He tries to be funny, which makes you chuckle awkwardly as a response. =) He does write really fast, and everyone's just trying to copy down the notes but he did improve halfway through the quarter. I never went to his office hours but I've heard that he's pretty helpful if you do go. One thing I hated: pop quiz! they went away for a while but they come back when you least expect it. You also get weekly quizzes and decent amount of homework. He's alright, just average.

Stankus knows the material well, but has trouble presenting it in a comprehensible way. His lectures consist of doing example problems...and that's pretty much it. I'd be forced to spend a lot of time outside of class reading the material from the book because his lectures simply lacked explanation of the material. I never did well on the pop quizzes; I only passed one or two of em. But as long as you do well on the midterms and final you'll end up with a good grade. Be prepared to do a lot of work outside of class.

I will not be taking any more classes from Stankus if possible. He talks and writes really fast so it is hard to keep up with the notes and listen to him talk. I feel like I may have done better if someone else was taking the notes and all I had to do is listen but that isn't going to happen. The only way I found to get through the class was ask him questions constantly to get him to slow down and actually explain the material. The problem is not that he doesn't know the material, its that he knows it too well and teaches as if it is a review session and we should all already know the material. I am good at math but there was no way for me understand the material the way he taught it and I feel lucky that I passes. A few of my friends didn't.

Professor Stankus is the worst professor I have had at Cal Poly. If it were not for the workshop, I would have failed this course. His lectures were hard to keep up with, his writing on the board chicken scratch, and his weekly quizzes often brought up topics that were never taught in class. If you like graded homework, weekly quizzes, and a man who rubs himself awkwardly against a chalkboard for the better part of an hour, take Stankus.

Would not have passed this course without the help of a workshop and online resources. Stankus like to introduce you to a topic by presenting the hardest possible example first, then proceeding to mumble his way thorough the solution. Your notes will become as incomprehensible as his writing on the board.

I would not recommend Stankus. He does not present the material well at all. About 1/3 of our class just stopped showing up. I spaced out for most of the lecture because he doesn't present the material well. Most people just learn from the textbook. In fact, showing up probably makes no difference. The good thing about his class was the structure of it. Homework was always due friday, quiz was always friday. The 2 midterms and final were quite challenging and the averages were about 70%. However, he's not terrible. It is possible to do well with Stankus, it just takes more effort. Study tons and you'll do fine.

I pretty much didnt learn anything at all from Stankus. All i could do to barely pass this guys class was use patrickjmt on line. the only reason I would go to stankus class was to get the homework problems or take a weekly quiz. Other than that his lectures are terrible and just confuse you more. The best advice i can give if you are stuck with him is use patrickjmt on line and dont listen to him in class

Professor Stankus is a very well experienced and knowledgeable instructor who works hard to be flexible with material difficulty and understands difficulties very well not hesitating to email students tips for test taking and even dealing with hot weather! In addition, he will never refuse a question in class being willing even to stop the problem he is working on the board for a question, excellent! That being said, his experience has endowed him with an expectation for students to work hard in his class teaching us with the expectation that we will study or go to office hours if we are having troubles. So don't expect an easy time but he is a good instructor and would be worth taking.

I personally really like Stankus. He presents the material very logically and gets through many examples in class. However, he isn't the most approachable teacher and is kinda "out there." But if you can look past his quirkiness, Stankus is an awesome prof for Calculus. He is open to questions at any point in his lecture, and his classes supplement the textbook well (sometimes exact examples are used which is normal). However, he sometimes presents weird ways to remember concepts or solve problems that I never used, but that didn't waste much time and only confused those who didn't read the textbook. Overall I would take Stankus again if given the chance. But compared to the other profs in the department, he is about mid-range.

Okay, the most important thing to me is that Stankus's tests and quizzes were very predictable. He gave absolutely no curve balls on any of them or the final. If you can do the homework, you can do the quizzes. If you can do those, you'll be fine on tests. During lecture, he will give 2-3 examples for each concept. However, he doesn't do an amazing job explaining the concepts. His lecture's are passable, but not riveting. If you need a very dynamic math teacher, you're in trouble. My one complaint is his homework policy. Half the points are from simple completion. The other ten points are based on the accuracy of two random answers. So, if you get one problem out of thirty wrong, you can get a C on the homework. Stankus improves throughout the quarter. He is rather nervous in the beginning, but this fades about halfway through. By that time you're used to his attempts at humor. Overall, he's a decent Calc 2 teacher, especially if he's your first math prof at Cal Poly.

Dr. Stankus will unapologetically rip you from your seat and smear his proliferating foul stank all over till there is nothing else left. AVOID THE STANK AT ALL COSTS OR ELSE.

If you want a teacher who will actually teach you something, do not take Stankus. He has easily been the worst teacher I've ever had. And that's saying something. He had no idea what he was doing in lecture, so much so that you'd be more confused about a topic after going to class than before. Best strategy with this professor: STAY AWAY. DON'T TAKE HIM. DROP HIS CLASS. Next Best strategy (if you have no choice but to take him): Watch some lectures on the topics you should be learning in class online. It will make so much more sense if you watch patrickJMT or other such videos. Seriously, this professor can't teach.

AVOID THE STANK. This teacher was awful. He tried his best to simplify the materials, but usually just made it that much harder to understand and kind of insulting when he would set variables as "squiggly line" or "happy face". Even though during class he will skip 10 step and expect you to keep up. Most of his classes are just him in front of the board doing examples as fast as he can. He also is really bad at posting homework, sometimes not until a day or two before it is due. He often shows up to class very sloppy and doesn't seem very prepared. Overall he is a smart person who can do math, he just isn't very approachable with questions and isn't very effective at all in his lectures. good luck if you have him.

To start, this is not one of those situations where you're doing poorly in a class so you blame it on the professor. I wasn't doing that bad until I actually needed a teacher. Stankus is the worst. He speeds through examples in class, explaining the very basics of the problem in far too much detail, then doing all the complicated work in his head and quickly scribbling through it while expecting you to just somehow know exactly what ten steps he skipped despite this being the very first time you've ever seen the material. The homework is pretty manageable as long as he posts it more than a day in advance. Asking questions in class quickly becomes out of the question with his terrible explanations that usually make things more unclear. Be ready to correct him as well because he averages 2 errors PER problem he does on the board. Lastly, he tends to run into pretty stationary things such as walls and the chalk board so be prepared. If Stankus is your last option, take the class next quarter, it will end up making your life a lot easier.

There is only one adjective to describe him as. Stankus. DO NOT TAKE HIM. He can't describe his examples or theorems he puts on the board and frequently gets lost and has to completely restart. Proportionally to his awful teaching, his test are incredibly difficult. Don't take him. It is shocking that he is a teacher here.

Stankus is by far one of the worst teachers. He is extremely boring, doesn't know how to answer questions, and does not help students make connections. However, his office hours are awesome. He is extremely helpful in one-on-one. Also, if you can manage to learn anything in his class, its actually really easy. The quizzes are basically the easy questions from the homework and the midterms honestly are very easy. If you really struggle with Calc, he will be horrible for you, but if you are really good at math, hes not the worst option because you will get a good grade for minimal effort. He shouldn't be your first choice, but hes so easy that its almost worth it.

Almost better to not go to class and just study the section on your own. Get a solutions manual for his homework because half of the time it is ridiculously hard and completely unrelated to the weekly quiz. Join a workshop if you can and you will do well. His tests are pretty basic, so thats a plus but his lectures are pointless. You can see he's really smart but just can't teach. Really nice guy but just has no communication/ organization skills.

Stances really isn't that bad of a professor, all the people on here who give him terrible reviews are weak. He truly knows his material well, but it can be that he occasionally forgets to slow down when teaching and give the students a bit more time to absorb the information. Plus, if you missed something in class, he is fantastic at explaining the material in office hours, and he is really understanding. In fact, I once went to his office accidentally outside of office hours, and he was kind enough to let me in and help me even then. Don't freak out if you have him; just make sure you pay attention in class and absolutely do all the homework.

He's a pretty good professor. He has some good techniques for remembering different formulas. He also focuses a lot on making sure students get the topics. I think he was a good professor for this course.

Professor Stankus has a much lower rating than he deserves. His class is pretty straightforward- unlike high school, no one is going to hand feed you information. It's your job to preview the section before every class (as he mentions in his syllabus), thus when his entire class is mainly composed of examples and sample problems, you'll have an idea of what's going on. People complain that his class is too fast and it's just all examples, but his class is just as such- he expects you to preview the sections, a reasonable request for students at college level. It's easy to pass, and just as easy to fail in his class. When I didn't study for quizzes and left the content to the last minute, it was no surprise that I didn't do well. However, when I did the homework on time, responsibly, and went to office hours and sought out help when I felt necessary, it was fairly easy to ace the class. You just need to study, that's all! During office hours, he is exceptionally interactive and will patiently wait for you to understand everything. Overall, he is an amazing teacher and I would definitely take him again.

Stankus goes through the material very fast and if you're not paying close attention and copying the example problems, you will have a difficult time in his class. He encourages people to ask questions in class, office hours, and over email. He will gladly answer them. He has a lot of passion for mathematics and knows his stuff. Before midterms and the final, he has days just dedicated to review and asking questions, and the quizzes and midterms are very fair. He unfortunately grades the homework both on completion and correctness, but the load is manageable and the questions help you understand the material. I never felt the need to go to his office hours but I've heard that is very helpful during them. He also has a very corny sense of humor that you'll either find funny or ironically funny.

Dr. Stankus is neither a horrible or amazing professor. Don't listen to all the hate from the other reviews. He presents all the material in a fairly clear way but may be too fast for some students. If so, just go to office hours or ask other students for help. Do the work and you will be fine.

Dr. Stankus is really good about explaining material. His tests are fair, and so is his grading system.

He's the only teacher I've come across in the college of science and math who actually makes the homework a significant part of the grade. He really cares about teaching, but isn't really great at it. He acts more like a high school teacher than a college professor. But it wont be all bad if you just do the homework he assigns, which is a lot.

I just thought this guy was getting a lot of crap from students in his ratings so I thought I'd stick up for him. He really is one of the better math professors I've had here, Sure he's got problems, but he does beat the average, so just take your chances. If I got him as a professor in the future I'd be content with it.

This guy makes more mathmatical errors than a southern cotton picker. He won't notice when he makes mistakes, and them blames the class when he does. There's some kind of dumb "policy" that he claims prevents him from letting you turn in homework a day late, which is worsened by the fact that he frequently dosen't assign the homework until 1AM in the morning. some common things he'll say are, "sorry, but i forgot to mention that this homework was due yesterday," or, "a lot of people got a zero because they did the wrong problems, i updated them last night." i hate you stankus

Do not take stankus even if he's the last prof open and you need calc for your last quarter before graduation. Here is a standard class: First he answers questions that were on the homework assignment you just turned in, so it doesn't help you any really. Then the rest of the class he writes examples up on the board at mach speed. When he finished you're so far behind still writing the examples down you didn't really learn anything. The two midterms and final always average at 60%, you think that would tip him off to actually teaching the material.

Dr. Stankus is the most boring teacher i can imagine. he's an abolute genius, but he's like a computerized professor. his lectures go so fast and leave almost no time for solving studnet problems. he runs through the material in a terrilbly dull fasion only to stop and say get it? and then move on before a student can decide what the problem is/look over the first step. his homework is a fair load but does not reflect what's on the test, nor does anything else. test material pops out of nowhere. he's writing is hyroglyphics to me probably becusae i caught up to it 5-10 minutes after he wrote it, and his enthusiasm for teaching and livelyness as a professor rivals that of steven hawkings. i felt like i was essentially getting the boring out of the text lecture multiplied in speed by a factor of ten. avoid him if you want to learn or get a good grade.

Kiss my sweet ass stankus!!

Dr. Stankus does write a lot on the board, but his lectures are really informative and interesting. His tests and quizzes are really straight forward and not difficult. I would definitely recommend him.

Stankus writes quick: that doesn't mean you have to. While I struggled with homework assignments (due two days after the lecture, not too involved but I'm a lazy stoner) the tests are straight forward and he honestly makes math interesting for me, like calculus was in high school. Good luck. I personally choose Stankus as the math professor for me, Media and Terry just don't do it for me.

very bland but awkwardly personable. strict homework policies. I saw a kid come to class 30 minutes late and he wouldn't accept his homework for the entire week.

Very boring teacher, reading the book is better than going onto his lecture, test, are fairly hard, a very harsh grader, doesn't even mark wuts wrong if u made a mistake on ur test

I know that a lot of you don't like Stankus, but I thought he was really good. This was the first A I've gotten in math since high school. His teaching is very clear and gives you an in-depth understanding of the concepts as long as you pay attention. His tests are very straightforward an look like the example problems you do in class. He is a very fair teacher, and as long as you work at it, you'll succeed. I really like math, so the work was worthwhile to me, but I guess I'd suggest that either math majors or people who like math take him.

It\'s true, Stankus talks very quickly and writes a lot faster than you do. But if you pay attention in class, and do your homework, then it isn\'t too difficult. He\'s really helpful in office hours, and as long as you study formulas before tests (admittedly, it was a lot more studying than I have done for any other math class) they are not difficult.

Stankus's teaching reflects his name. He basically goes up to the board and mumbles through the material very rapidly, and really only slows down if you ask questions. You'll probably end up teaching yourself most of the material in the class, because even if you do pay attention, you still won't learn very much. Avoid if possible.

He goes over the material fast, but he is very helpful at office hours. If you know what you need help with then he can help you. If you can partially learn on your own and show up to class he should not be a problem.

He is a really nice person, but not a great professor. Not very good at explaining, but if you ask him questions he is pretty helpful. He grades the homework which kind of sucks, but it also forces you to do it so you learn the material. I wouldn't recommend him, but if you do have him, it isn't the end of the world.

Stankus is overall a good teacher. He is very smart and sometimes makes things too complicated, but if you go to office hours he is very helpful.

Stankus is a pretty chill guy. His lectures often tend to be sporadic and it is easy to get lost and confused. If you go to his office hours, he can help you so much more than in lecture. He's super nice and friendly and (like most math professors) passionate about math and the theories behind it. Calc 143 is not a fun class. No one likes it. Stankus was an okay professor and I'm sure I could've gotten a higher grade if I applied myself more (or understood series).

Many people seem to think poorly of Stankus, but he is actually good. I thought I would have a miserable experience because of his poly rating reviews, but he knows what he is doing. The first week or so was a little difficult, im not sure if this was him or the material, but once we were all adjusted to the class it was super easy. Not a first choice, but don't complain if you get him. Plus he is really goofy, and clumsy so hell say just completely random things that will make you giggle.

if you are taking him for calc three, just know that the material itself is really hard, stankus was a pretty good teacher. kinda slow on the realizing student problmes part. on the other hand he curves the class like crazy. i got a C when i should have flat out failed it.

Being my first quarter in college, and not taking a math class senior year, I struggled at the beginning of Stankus' class, and thought he was not a good teacher at all. Eventually though, I adjusted to his teaching style a little and worked hard and started doing a little better. Overall, I almost never went to office hours, just did my homework, read from the book's notes on every section, and studied my ass off for the final and got a B in the class. Stankus really isn't that bad, and he is a cool guy, so don't be too disappointed if you get him. Just be prepared to work hard.

Wow calc 3: what a shitty class. I feel bad for any professor who has to teach it. Stankus, yeah he wasn't the best but going to office hours really helps. There's not much subjectivity in Math and the teacher doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Stop bitching and learn the material on your own. Mark is fine, he's just a guide, don't expect him to actually teach you calculus, you have to learn it by yourself.

I took this class because I had a bad rotation and he was the only professor left that wasn't at 7am. I read all the reviews, but my boyfriend is good at math so I figured he could just help me and I could deal with a bad math teacher for a quarter. I wished I took the 7am. Everytime I sat down to do homework I was on the verge of tears I was so frustrated. With the help of my boyfriend I'm able to do well in the class, but if it wasn't for him I would be completely lost. I'm pretty sure that Stankus is not the WORST at Cal Poly but he is far from the best. If you have to take him, make sure you get some outside help if you want to clearly understand the material. Make sure you do all the homework he assigns and understand what you're doing, it's collected and graded every week, with a pretty straight forward quiz to go with it.

I LOVED PROFESSOR STANKUS. By no means was it easy, BUT HE TRULY CARES. He doesn't present information so well so in order to be successful you MUST GO TO OFFICE HOURS. He is an incredibly kind, helpful, and approachable Professor. Don't be discouraged if you are blocked into his class, you determine your success- you can whine about it and use him as a scapegoat for your failure OR you can go see him, work with him, and you will find success in this course. His tests and quizzes are more than fair, the amount of homework assigned is fair, and he will curve the class at the end of the quarter. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED BY THESE RATINGS! You can still find success in this course with his help and your determination.

Stay away from Stankus. If you're like me and understand the material but make little math mistakes, you will not do well. His grading system is not comprehensive enough to account for this.

Honestly, the reviews for Stankus are lower than he deserves. Like others have said, he is easily distracted and can go on tangents that are very out of context; however, you'll learn to just laugh at the weird things he says and move on. He is also super helpful in office hours, and his tests are difficult but definitely possible do get an A on if you study. Overall, while he might not be an A++ teacher, he is a definitely not at all bad, and is a lot better than some of the alternatives.

If you can, stay away from Stankus. I got one of the later times to register for Math-143, so I basically got stuck with him. He is probably the most confusing math professor I've ever had. He will write down the most irrelevant things on the board, and then completely skip over explanations for new things that a lot of the class doesn't even understand. He basically memorizes definitions and some of the material, and that makes it extremely hard to learn about sequences, series and if they converge or diverge, especially if you haven't learned any of that stuff before. I did not attend his office hours, but I heard he is actually fairly helpful. The tests were not terribly difficult, just make sure you do the homework and stay on top of it. He does weekly quizzes, and collects homework once a week. 2 midterms and a final. I had to start dropping in on the math workshop just to make sure I didn't fail the class. That is something else I would recommend. Workshop for this class is extremely useful. I had Alex Cheng, and he made things much clearer. Overall, not the greatest professor in my opinion, so if you can, stay away.

Many people do not like Stankus because he can be hard to understand when teaching sometimes, but you just have to ask him to slow down and explain what he is saying again. If you leave a lecture confused, just look at the homework and bring it to his office hours if you still don't understand it. If you can do the homework he assigns you will do fine on his midterms which will look like the easiest of the homework problems. He does include one or two tough questions on his final, but if you try in the class you should not be entering the final with anything lower than a B. Another huge plus with Stankus is he posts your homework, quiz, and test grades on PolyLearn as soon as he has them.

Professor Stankus seemed to care about his students, which is good. Unfortunately, his lectures were unclear, and he assigns a lot of homework. The homework was not as helpful as I thought it would be. The tests he gave were difficult even after studying for them, but his weekly quizzes weren't that bad; they were closer in difficulty to the homework problems than the test problems were. For me, there was a lot depending on the final after not doing that well on the other tests. Advice to succeed in his class: go to him with the problems you're having and anything you need clarified. I never did which is why I failed. I'm sure, just like everyone mentions on his Polyratings page, that he is much better at teaching in office hours than in the lecture. It seems like he curves some of his classes, but I'm not sure how he decides which ones he curves or how he decides how much to curve. Obviously, I think he should use his lecture time more effectively, so if you don't have to take his class, I would not recommend him.

DON'T TAKE THE STANK. THE STANK IS NOT DANK!!!!!! Professor Stankus is by far the worst professor I have ever had in my life. He cannot convey the material for the life of him. He's extremely disorganized and cluttered, and his lectures are nearly impossible to follow unless you already know the material beforehand. He expects you to read the section and his handouts online before class, but his handouts are filled with "fill-in-the-blank" questions and are scattered with frequent typos and errors, not to mention he doesn't even go over his handouts half the time, and when he does, he's extremely scatterbrained and disorganized about it. Sometimes, the typos in the online handouts are so bad that they completely change the meaning of formulas and theorems, making them useless and impossible to decipher. Honestly, I just stopped showing up near the end of the quarter and missed four days of class straight, only going on Friday to take the quiz and turn in the homework (which by the way, he sometimes adds more to literally the night before and doesn't accept late work when he refuses to send out emails about these homework updates). His tests aren't very difficult, but when he grades them, he will take off points and barely even explain why, leaving you wondering why you got only partial credit when you got the problem right. Stankus doesn't seem like an awful guy, but I would never recommend anyone to take him, especially for upper division courses. His lectures are awful, and I advise never taking him for anything more than a early Calculus class. Reading out of the book and watching Khan Academy videos is infinitely more helpful than trying to follow along with his chicken scratch. If I could ever give someone less than a 0 rating, this would be he who I would give it to. DON'T TAKE THE STANK. THE STANK IS NOT DANK!!!!!!!

Stankus is an awful professor. No way around it. His lecturers are boring as hell and he doesn't even convey the material in any helpful way. He focuses on irrelevant parts of problems and skips over parts that nearly every student in the class doesn't understand. After a problem, he will occasionally ask if there are any questions, and if a student does have one he'll fail at explaining the problem to the student. There is weekly homework, weekly quizzes that are fairly easy, and the midterms and the final are fairly challenging (the final overrides you lowest midterm so that's a plus). All in all, avoid him if you possibly can.

DO NOT TAKE HIM YOU WILL NEED LOTS OF TUTORING TO PASS. Stankus's averages for our past two midterms have been 57 and 53 which should say a lot. He thinks he knows what he is doing but explains things very unorganized and constantly makes mistakes on the board (which the few students that can actually follow him sometimes correct - but the rest of us don't always catch). He will start a problem and then in the middle look at it and go "well.. maybe this way is better" and change course entirely. He erases the board too fast for you to try to pay attention to lecture and copy down all the notes. He lectures constantly throughout the class and doesn't give students time to try problems on their own in class. I have gotten higher than average on the past 2 midterms and they have both been F's. I haven't yet taken the final but hoping he will curve the class so we all don't fail.

This guy has been by far my worst professor at cal poly. He is very nice and pretty smart as well, but doesn't know how to teach calc 3 for the life of him.I constantly felt like I was teaching myself calc 3. One thing that would have helped me would be to try to do the homework toward the beginning of each week so that I had a clue as to what he was talking about. My strategy of listen to the lecture and then do the homework resulted in me having no idea what he was saying in class and then no idea how to do the homework. The people that got decent grades in his class were the students that were naturally incredible at calculus and basically taught themselves the entire class. I have gotten 1 other D at cal poly, and that professor still got a decent poly rating from me.

Have you seen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? Remember the troll that walks into the bathroom and swings his club around? That's Stankus. Avoid this guy like the plague. Dumbest piece of shit I've ever had as a professor. Everyone bombed his midterms except two students and blamed us saying we didn't study enough. Obviously his dumbass couldn't fucking teach the material in the first place.

Don't let my C fool you. I love calculus and excelled in previous courses, but this class is set up to make you fail. Stankus prioritizes male students, does examples incorrectly and tells you to erase them rather then fixing them, assigns a ton of homework, writes his quizzes and exams extremely vaguely and unlike the book, and does not care about you or your needs. I would never recommend him as a professor. I will leave this class feeling like I know less than when I entered.

If you're taking Stankus I would recommend getting a Chegg subscription if you haven't already. He assigns a lot of homework and it counts just as much as your quizzes, so using Chegg to make sure you get a 100% is very helpful for your grade. Also, Chegg teaches the subject better than he does. He's very smart but solves problems in a very confusing way, and Chegg always gave me more straight-forward strategies. I would still recommend going to class everyday, but I always went and focused on doing the homework with Chegg on my laptop and occasionally listened to him talk in the background. His quizzes are pretty fair, and tests are fair for the most part but usually at least 1-2 questions will be something he's hardly/never done in class. My biggest critique is that he never marks what you did wrong on quizzes/tests but will just write down how many points you got for it. My friend and I had an ongoing joke about how our midterms would only have giant Xs and a 0 over it with no explanation. Don't rely on him to be organized, his PolyLearn page is a mess and I only used it to look up the homework problems, which he will have posted with "and maybe more" at the end of the list, and will add to the list at 11pm the night before the hw is due. Overall you should do fine in the class if you are comfortable learning independently. Just make sure you do the hw every time and know how to do every type of problem no matter how insignificant some seem because chances are it will pop up on a test. Then the midterms and final won't throw you off, I would have gotten an A if that hadn't happened.

I consider myself strong in math (aerospace engineering major). While Calc 3 is difficult material, Stankus makes the class so much worse. His idea of teaching is attempting to do problems on the board (and I say attempt because nearly every problem he made a mistake that the workshop leader had to call him out on, resulting in him and students erasing and restarting) at lightning pace without ever turning around to gauge student understanding. For example, when the class asked how we can know which series test to use, he just said "you should just look at it and know". Also, when learning about how to draw polar curves, his explanation was "just swoop it". His problems in class were unlike the ungodly amount of homework problems he assigned or the quiz/test problems. When he assigned homework, it would say which sections and "and maybe more..." so you never really knew what sections were going to be included until the day before when he would add more. He grades the homework based on completion and a few problems on correctness. So even if it took you 3 hours for the assignment (which was typical), if you got one part of the problem he checked wrong, you go down a letter grade. Also, staple your homework!! I learned the hard way when he gave me a C on a homework that every problem was correct just because I didn't staple it. When we took quizzes, he never really knew what the material was on. One time he handed us a quiz with a problem from a section we hadn't covered yet because he didn't realize we hadn't covered it yet. For quiz and test grading, he doesn't tell you what you got wrong or write the correct answer. It simply says how many points you missed (with point values being assigned completely randomly and illogically). Overall, avoid Professor Stankus at all costs. If you must take him, going to class is completely useless. He will make you more confused than if you just stayed home and read the textbook.

He never marks what you did wrong on quizzes and only writes the points you got, so don't be afraid to ask him for points back. One time my friend and I had the exact same work on our paper but she got a 50 and I got a 100, and when we asked him he bumped my friends grade to a 100. He messes up on grading sometimes and often has assistants grade for him, so it is always worth it to ask him about your concerns. Also... LOOK UP HOW TO DRAW POLAR CURVES if you are taking his class. For weeks I could not figure it out because he would walk up to the board and say "just swoop it", and one time he looked at his drawing and said "this curve looks like it was drawn by someone on acid" lol

He SUCKS. Plain and simple. I counted the number of times the class had to correct him in class per lecture, and he averaged at least 10. And what he does explain is VERY poorly explained. Plus he kept running into the overhead and tables, and it's hard to learn from someone who looks like a bumbling idiot.

If you are just there for flat knowledge, Stankus is your man. Ever day's lesson plan is to write a bunch of definitions on the board and systematically performs examples. He is much more confusing than the book in some areas. If you come to his office hours, however, he is very helpful.

This guy is very intelligent. But I'm not sure that really helps with being a good teacher. He'll give you a million definitions to learn and examples to study, and plenty of homework to do, and then make the tests completely different. The class has an extremely fast pace because he is always writing on the board and everyone takes pages of notes each day trying to copy it all down. I spent many hours on homework and studying for this class and the only way I got an A was because of the huge curve. Expect a tough class with a fast pace, but with fair grading in the end.

This class is fun if taking tedious notes for 50 minutes is your idea of a good time. Lectures were extremely boring and mostly uniformative, and I saw stuff on the tests that he didn't even touch on in class.

Avoid if possible, but if you have to take him, it's no big deal. He's not exciting, but you can learn if you try.

Dr. Stankus is a nice guy. However, I would definitely not recommend taking him for this class. Unlike other professors or teachers I've had, his notes that he transcribed to the board for us to copy were unorganized, and I found lectures hard to follow at times as a result. One thing he made the class do a lot was form groups and work on problems on the board. I think straight lecturing would have taught the material much more efficiently (which was a problem - we were behind schedule for most of the quarter.) During multiple classes, I felt that time was being wasted unnecessarily. An example would be spending 15 minutes on the properties of a polynomial to help us understand why the roots were important. As the quarter went on, quiz and midterm questions got funkier. Most of the class (including myself) didn't do so hot on the 2nd midterm. While some blame can be attributed to us as students for sure, there's something to be said about a classwide regression. While some of those are trivial problems, the overall factor is that Stankus is not effective at teaching the material. Office hours helped, but it was more of a struggle than it should have been.

Stankus really knows how to over-complicate linear algebra, but i feel that this is due to the fact he is so used to dealing with higher level math he is not capable of simply explaining a subject that is so second nature to him. That being said, you should probably avoid him if you could, but he does make the course itself very reasonable. The tests and quizzes are pretty doable, but there is usually one question he puts on them that are more conceptual and less math-based that tended to trip me up, so I'd make sure to really nail down concepts, theorems, and definitions before each exam. I was really expecting a B in the class after the final but happily somehow ended up with an A, so Im guessing he must have pulled off some incredible curving magic. Like I said he is a reasonable guy and is actually a lot better at dumbing concepts down at office hours. But during class, taking notes can sometimes be so tiresome and useless

Complete and utter deuche bag...final is impossible...midterms aren't too bad...but he is more like an annoying robot than a teacher.

He definitely lives up to his name. I went through the whole quarter not understanding a damn thing he ever said. He seems really insecure and nervous and begins RIDICULOUS examples that actually make the problems more complicated. Otherwise a fair grader, I pulled off a B teaching myself from that godawful math book. Don

His class is painfully boring. All you do is take pages of notes that are almost straight out of the book. While not necessarily a bad teacher, I learn better by understanding the information while in class not by trying to decode my notes later on. When I left Stankus's class everyday I didn't understand anything either because I fell asleep or had no idea what he was rambling on about.

Stankus is the professor to take if you enjoy math - because he does too. He'll show the awesome examples, he'll blaze through the material, and he's more than fair on grading exams and homeworks. Get your work done, it's easy, just don't miss any days. I enjoyed coming to his class stoned every day of the week.

you ho. Beach asinine punk. he teaches out of the book. no point in wasting your time going to lectures. he goes double time turbo with his chalk. if you have enough time to actually copy all that stuff down, you will have no idea what it means or how he came up with it. really annoying on homeworks because if you turn it in at the 11th minutes or 41st minute(one minute late) he does not accept it(my bus ran late, i had ran to class all sweaty too) his midterms are really unfair. Difficulty is not the problem, it is that he gives too many problems. You have to speed through every problem, and he takes off points for meaning less stuff like units and notation. If you read this stankus, you are a really messed up dude, man. i may sound juvenile but o well.

Stankus is a nice guy, but not a good teacher. He didn't know how to answer our questions... Always seemed as though he was in his own little world. We had homework due twice a week: lame! it's a mystery to me how i got a c in this class when i had over 95% on quizzes/homework/1st midterm, but i'm not going to question it because he's not a very approachable teacher. and i swear... if i hear that man say "wallah" one more time! grr!

Stankus has the personality of a rock. He lectures too fast, doesn't answer questions well, and doesn't seem too willing to help you out in office hours. If you don't know how to do a problem, he'll say "just try and work on it for a little bit." Well, a teacher is supposed to teach you how if you can't do it! His tests cover the hardest material that you barely cover in class, and always has a few tricks. I was lucky to pull off a B studying nonstop. Other teachers are much better for math.

When I could get into any other sections last quarter I was forced to take the honors section with Stankus, I was worried going in because i had heard bad things about stankus, but he did a pretty good job presenting the material and an amazing job at helping explain homework problems, overall not that bad Id recommend Stankus as a Calc teacher

Stankus was not a good professor. I barely learned anything at all. However it was the easiest math class I have ever taken. The midterms and final were super easy and predictable. Its a pretty fun class too just because Stankus is a goof. He makes lame jokes, talks about phone games he currently enjoys, and trips over his chair on multiple occasions while writing on the board. If you want to learn I don't think you should take him. For me at least it was an easy A class that I didn't have to worry about if that is what you are looking for.

I see a lot of rather negative reviews for Professor Stankus. For me, this class was overall simply neutral. It wasn't necessarily good, or bad like the previous reviews, it was just... neutral. In terms of specifics, Professor Stankus is someone who is passionate for his subject and knows what he is doing. He's always offering help and office hours when he feels that the class is not truly understanding each concept. However, the way Stankus presents this material is not necessarily orthodox. He presents at a very fast pace, and I often found myself filling out 3-4 pages of notes every one-hour class period. His reasoning for explaining concepts and proofs are... rather vague and illogical. Nonetheless, I had a very neutral opinion about this course. It is fast pace and requires a great deal of work throughout the quarter... but is 100% survivable. The Poly ratings from previous students didn't match up with my experience in the class. If you put in the work, show up to class, pay attention and complete all the homework assignments... getting an A in this class is not as far-fetched as some other ratings might make it out to be.

One of my favorite math professors. He enjoys math alot and shares with the class interesting applications to the days lecture. Homework not bad, but not incredibly efficient. Tests were very fair and important, with no more than one or two 'tough' tricks.

Stankus is not very organize and it can be hard to keep up with his notes in class. His test are somewhat fair, and he will give extra credit on midterms if the class as a whole does horrible. You will put a lot of extra time into this class. There are much better professors to teach this class. Try to take somebody else if you can for this class. If you are stuck taking him for proofs, here is some good things about him. The good thing about Stankus is that he is very helpful in office hours, will give extra credit if the class ask for it, somewhat curves midterms, cares about his students and will go the extra mile to try to help, and will give some interesting analogies to try to relate things, that will not help you. They however will make you laugh. If you have to take him for math 248 try to make the best of it and really work hard. I survived and I had never done a proof in my life before this.

THE STANK IS NOT DANK. Stankus is a nice guy who kind of cares about his students passing, but his class just sucks. He is too frazzle brained to convey the complexity of proofs and it's not even worth going to class. His teaching style is not very helpful and comes off almost as condescending the majority of the time. He isn't confident in his own work and will regularly erase halfway through leaving you with a piece of paper of meaningless jargon. Don't take Stankus. THE STANK IS NOT DANK

First off, AVOID this guy if possible. That being said, if you are stuck with him, here's what to expect. His lectures are all over the place. This class is hard enough on its own but he makes it way more confusing. He doesn't come in with any set schedule, he just goes to the board and starts writing and I basically had no idea what I was supposed to be learning on a daily basis. So your best chance for success in this class is READ THE BOOK. Trust me, his lectures will not help you at all unless you're really talented at following unorganized thoughts scribbled on the board. Also, go to the free tutoring offered by the math department. (His office hours are also fairly useless). The good news is, his midterms and final are very fair. Even though he sucks at teaching, he won't test you on some crazy stuff.

This guy is definitely not organized. He won't really go over what we are learning on a particular day he will just start writing. He puts outlines of how you are supposed to do proofs on polylearn so I suggest going over those, he's really particular about how he wants you to write certain proofs. Learn your definitions he tests on those a lot. Go to offie hours he really is helpful, they get crowded so don't only go the day before the homework is due. His tests are fair, I took this class credit no credit and barely passed, mostly because I didn't try that hard, but it definitely takes a lot of effort in order to get an A or B. So I suggest reading and really trying to understand the homework. Nothing on the tests will be harder than homework problems which was nice.

Stankus was a difficult professor and his class was hard. I'd consider some of my classmates to be math whizzes, but even they weren't able to get an A. I don't mean to be harsh, as Stankus actually grew on me as the quarter went by and i will start by saying that he legitimately cares about his students. Now, Stankus is a pretty dry lecturer. He is difficult to follow and uses a lot of analogies, which, while funny, aren't as effective as many of the students would like. His quizzes were difficult and the work was in general graded very stringently, so watch out. At this point, many of the other students didn't enjoy him as a teacher, and i'm by no means saying he is amazing, but he puts in effort and is actually incredibly helpful during office hours. Towards the end of the quarter, i feel like he relaxed a lot with his teaching style and class was more enjoyable and tangible for myself and the other students. If you are going to take Stankus, don't freak out because the resources are there, but just make sure you dedicate the proper amount of time to this class and really learn the nuances of writing proofs. It's not easy, and nobody said it was, so don't be upset if you under perform. This class can catch you off guard.

As a transfer heading into proofs and telling people who I had, I got a lot of 'good lucks' and what not, but I ended up having a really good experience in Dr. Stankus' class. I didn't love having assigned HW but the problems were well chosen and his quizzes are fair and guide you well through the course. His exams are fair and though some things might seem unclear in lecture he is extremely helpful in his office hours. He's also much more approachable in his office hours and he's got a funny (albeit quirky) sense of humor. Conclusion: Don't be afraid of Stankus. He's a good dude and I learned a lot from this course.

First, I must admit Stankus is a very accomplished math professor and definitely is passionate about the subject. However, he is completely unorganized and often gets confused by his own examples. On almost every problem he would write out a proof and then reorder all the steps and then would notice he made a mistake in the assumption. Basically your notes will end up being useless and will confuse you even more in office hours. If you're a math major and need this course for future classes, don't take him. Even if you end up doing well in his class, he will not prepare you for any more advanced course. Lastly, he makes a lot of really awkward jokes that just makes everyone in the class feel uncomfortable... so theres that. He also dresses as someone who appears to have late onset autism.

Really solid professor. He does a great job at answering questions. Will admit he can leave a bad impression at the start of the quarter. However he started to get really good after 2 weeks.

I have taken Stankus now for 3 classes: 248, 481, and 482. I'm leaving this on the 248 section as advice for people reading these Stankus horror stories. 248 is a different beast from probably every math class you have taken before. Proofs are essential for many higher level math classes, probably less so for applied maths. Stankus does not make it easy, but he can provide a very strong foundation in my opinion. He will make mistakes constantly on the board that you will have to hope he notices. He will go over every proof in agonizing detail that will make you want to scream at him to hurry it up while he's staring at the board with his goblin grin. He will mark you down on questions for most inane shit like not saying "Choose such an x" when you have shown "there exists an x". He plows through material while the students sit there with their mouths open trying to figure out what he was doing 2 boards ago. Homework assignments will feel like you have seen the heat death of the universe before you finish. Lecture Stankus makes you want to punch him in the face. However, I have taken 4-5 proof based classes since 248 with him and I can confidently say that the hell I went through has enabled me to write consistent proofs that are logically sound. It has enabled me to think through the logical steps necessary to arrive at the correct conclusions. I'm not sure how other professors approach 248, but writing proofs for other professors will seem like a (time-consuming) cake-walk after Stankus. I believe Stankus has contributed greatly to the quality of my math education. I think the most important thing to do for success in Stankus's class is to STOP HIM IN LECTURES IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND SOMETHING, AND ASK QUESTIONS. If you do not understand how he got from one step to the next, ask! He is willing to go over the smallest detail. Whether he goes over it well is another question. For this reason, you will need to go to office hours. Office Hour Stankus is a well-meaning guy. He will go over a problem over and over until you get it. He will go over a problem YOU THOUGHT OF YOURSELF OUTSIDE OF THE ASSIGNMENTS over and over until you both get it. Do not pretend that you get it if you do not. He actually enjoys thinking about math, I believe. He will make mistakes; if something does not seem right, you need to call him out on it. Stankus is not a class you can breeze through with minimal effort. It is not a class where you can read the book and do fine on homework and tests, because he has almost excessively high standards for these things. What you get out of Stankus is exactly how much you put in. He doesn't pretend to make the classes easy or enjoyable, and he certainly doesn't try to make sure that the people putting little effort in their learning are keeping up. Good luck if you do decide to take him.

While I think Stankus is a nice guy and I don't like to give negative evals, he seriously needs to slow down on the lecture. Some days I would get behind on writing notes and couldn't catch up at all. His homework is fair and I learned a lot from reading the text and doing the homework. A tip: ask questions. He will go out of his way to answer questions in class and in his office (although be warned, a question provoked a tougher concept that did appear on an exam and nailed me). I don't recommend taking him. Not bad, but there are many math professors that are better than him.

I've had Stankus two quarters now. Here's what I've learned: Pros - Definitely knows his material well - He IS passionate about his material, though that doesn't always seem like the case - Quizzes are relatively easy, and follow the course well - Textbook is free and very straightforward - He does care that you understand the material Cons - Very, very hard to listen to. He doesn't know how to make lectures interesting - Goes on irrelevant tangents regularly which, though sometimes interesting, don't help you understand the material any better - Homework takes a ridiculous amount of time - EXTREMELY particular when grading tests, which does not come across when he corrects homework and quizzes - Just reiterating, his homework will take up all your time - Seriously, YOU WILL SPEND ALL YOUR TIME AND ENERGY IN THIS CLASS FINISHING HIS HOMEWORK. He doesn't seem to notice that everyone has three or four other classes to take. You will have absolutely no time to study because you will spend all your time working on the homework he assigns Overall: Would recommend taking another teacher.

This was his first time teaching this course, and it really showed. He'd learn the material right before lectures and try to explain it to us before he remotely understood it. But I really enjoyed the class. He's a really smart guy and he makes a relaxed, laid-back classroom. Take him if you can get him for a subject he already knows.

the stank is dank

I don't think he's ever taught this course before, because he clearly wasn't fully comfortable with working in Mathematica. Maybe he'll do better when he's had more practice. As for him as a person -- he's very nice, has a dorky sense of humor, always goes out of his way to help you in office hours, but organizes class sessions very poorly. You always feel like you're wasting time. The tests were absolutely reasonable, and the work load wasn't at all bad. Overall an average prof.

Stankus is kind of complicated to explain. His heart is definitely in the right place. He really wants his students to succeed in the class and is willing to put in lots of time to make sure they understand the material. He really has a passion for the material... and gets really excited when teaching something new. My only negative comment would be that his lectures are a little boring and sometimes feel like they are leading nowhere. His final was rediculously hard, but the midterm was definitely do-able. Im sure I failed the final, but got a B in the class... so not too bad.

I was excited to take this class. I am minoring in computer science, so i thought this would be a nice course that tied in both math and programming. Stankus was extremely scattered in the way he taught this course. We had no real direction and the material was presented sloppily. He would often just give us a worksheet that would tell us to enter some commands and see what they did instead of actually teaching the material himself. The most useful thing I learned in this class was how to use the help feature in mathematica. I think if he had had actually followed any sort of cohesive teaching plan and if he spent more time teaching us what we were actually doing instead of just having us enter stupid one line commands on a computer this class would have been much more enjoyable. Overall, this class was one of the most boring and useless i have taken at cal poly. I would not recommend taking a class with stankus. His one redeeming factor was that he promptly replied to emails and his tests were not particularly unfair.

I was excited to take this class. I am minoring in computer science, so i thought this would be a nice course that tied in both math and programming. Stankus was extremely scattered in the way he taught this course. We had no real direction and the material was presented sloppily. He would often just give us a worksheet that would tell us to enter some commands and see what they did instead of actually teaching the material himself. The most useful thing I learned in this class was how to use the help feature in mathematica. I think if he had had actually followed any sort of cohesive teaching plan and if he spent more time teaching us what we were actually doing instead of just having us enter stupid one line commands on a computer this class would have been much more enjoyable. Overall, this class was one of the most boring and useless i have taken at cal poly. I would not recommend taking a class with stankus. His one redeeming factor was that he promptly replied to emails and his tests were not particularly unfair.

Stankus is quite a character, but overall a good professor. By the end of the quarter you will have hundreds of pointless emails from him (he refuses to include more than one subject in each email and will send one just to remind you to go to class, seriously). He has a deep knowledge of Mathematica, and the project was pretty fun. I'm not the best with coding, but he really broke everything down into pieces and helped me out a ton in office hours. He is willing to work one on one with you on your code and make sure it works (even on your final project). I didn't do so well on either of the midterms, but did alright on the final exam and project and came out with a decent grade in the class.

Gave Stankus a bad review last year for 206, and here I am again. Given that this is a programming class (for Mathematica,) everyone's approach to a problem will be different. Dr. Stankus seems to forget this for the most part, and it's flat-out hard to follow his lectures. He NEVER prepared ahead of time for this class. When he wrote up a block of code to demonstrate something, he'd jump around the screen, fixing things constantly. Sometimes it was impossible to tell what he was trying to show us. The class grade was made up of homework assignments, a term project, a quiz (I think he intended to have more but just stopped after the first one,) a demonstration, one midterm, and the final. I definitely learned the most from the homework - while the typos and lack of specifics in the assignments was confusing at times, it actually made me use Mathematica's help function more, which will be the primary way anything is learned in this class. The tests were okay, fair for the most part but not ideal. The demonstration was pretty much free points and the project can be fun if you write a program for something you're interested in. Overall, the uncertanties in this class will stress you out. Our homework assignments were spread out over the quarter, yet in early June Stankus emailed us to say he finished grading an assignment due in mid-April. He admitted that some assignments didn't get graded because he was behind. Who does that??? He didn't post up the grades for the final and term project (this might not mean anything) but I wouldn't be surprised if my grade was pulled from a hat, either. If you end up taking 350, it will help considerably if you buy Mathematica (student edition costs about what a textbook would,) and taking CSC 101 instead of 235 seemed to give me an advantage as well.

This is a review of the Typesetting in LaTeX class and Dr. Stankus. This class is graded strictly on attendance. Each week Stankus briefly discusses some new material and then lets the students work on the computers for the remainder. He is passionate about LaTeX and really wants everyone to understand it and love it as well. Knowing how to use LaTeX is very important for math majors since it is commonly used for senior projects, research papers, and modeling posters. I know Stankus gets terrible reviews but for this class he is amazing. He really cares about the subject and the students. Wonderful guy, easy class, no homework. Take this class.

If you want to learn -- DON'T take Stankus. If you don't care and you just want an A -- DON'T take Stankus. I don't even know why I went to class--I never learned a damn thing. I learned everything from the book, and even that was not much. Honestly, the only reason I got an A in this class is because the curve was SOOO huge. It definitely did NOT reflect what I learned. Dr. Stankus is a very smart man, and I'm sure he is an excellent mathematician--but his inablitiy to digress to a level where the class can understand is simply frusterating. He does not understand the fact that the student might be a little confused about a subject they know nothing about--apparently, he knows everything. He should work at a think-tank and leave teaching to Dr. Mueller.

This guy stank-us. Ha ha ha!!! I hate that guy.

Seriously, do whatever you can to not take Professor Stankus for Real Analysis. I put in at LEAST 15-20 hours of studying a week for this class alone. More like 25-30 before the midterms and final. I felt like I knew the material forwards and backwards and somehow still ended up with a D. It's half way into the next quarter and I'm still steaming about this class. I'd consider pushing out my graduation date just so I didnt have to take this professor...

I took Dr. Stankus for the entire Analysis sequence. 412, 413, and 414 are NOT easy classes. Do not expect to cruise through like it's calculus. However, Stankus knows exactly what he's talking about, and can explain it to you in the utmost of detail if you don't understand. If you have a question, you need to ask. He WILL explain it until you get it, which is invaluable in analysis. Be solid in your logic skills, and proof writing, and then take his class. Only then will you be able to write a good proof. His tests are extremely fair and well thought out. They are generally of the appropriate length, and WILL test your knowledge. Analysis, especially some of the later courses, is a struggle, but in working with Dr. Stankus in office hours it finally clicked for me, and now analysis comes as easy as calculus. The point is, if you want to learn analysis, really learn it, Stankus has a way of pointing out the stuff that's important and showing what stuff is besides the point. He will help you refine your proof skills to a razor thin point, and then some. I went through the analysis series with the intention of continuing in the graduate program, and am glad that I had Stankus. You will have to work, but if you do, and you can wrap your mind around all of the content, you will be rewarded.

Dr. Stankus talks into the chalkboard when he's on a roll. Sometimes he'll stop that and go really slow. He's inconsistent. He's good in office hours; but not a good lecturer.

He does not prepare you for tests well because he can't explain the material well. He's SUPER nice and VERY helpful in office hours for specific problems, however, it didnt help for his tests. Avoid for proof like classes.