Professor profile for Irene Gamba
Student reviews of Irene Gamba
Review from a student who took M427ik
She is a nice person, and is enthusiastic about the class. I am taking this class in the fall of '03. She narrowed the class to 2 tests and all the homework as 1/3 the final grade, where about an 85 is an A, but this semester she became unfair and mean. Her class avg. on the first test was a 55, and she refuses to curve. If you know what that means, it means that most people got around a 55, which is nowhere near an A. So if you want to learn something, and earn a decent grade, don't get gyped from great reviews, and don't take gamba.
She is a nice person, and is enthusiastic about the class. I am taking this class in the fall of '03. She narrowed the class to 2 tests and all the homework as 1/3 the final grade, where about an 85 is an A, but this semester she became unfair and mean. Her class avg. on the first test was a 55, and she refuses to curve. If you know what that means, it means that most people got around a 55, which is nowhere near an A. So if you want to learn something, and earn a decent grade, don't get gyped from great reviews, and don't take gamba.
Review from a student who took M 427K
All right, so her lectures were useless. She focuses on proofs and theory and not what you really need to know to do well on the tests. Rely on the homework and TA sessions for that. She gives so many As. I skipped over half of the lectures and still made an easy A. There is an optional final to help your grade. Frequent homework which isn't particularly easy since the subject is hard, but if you read the book and ask the TA you will figure it out. Matlab computer assignments can be tricky at first but you get the hang of it. Honestly I don't remember much diff eq from this class except basics, but if you want a laid back class take Gamba.
All right, so her lectures were useless. She focuses on proofs and theory and not what you really need to know to do well on the tests. Rely on the homework and TA sessions for that. She gives so many As. I skipped over half of the lectures and still made an easy A. There is an optional final to help your grade. Frequent homework which isn't particularly easy since the subject is hard, but if you read the book and ask the TA you will figure it out. Matlab computer assignments can be tricky at first but you get the hang of it. Honestly I don't remember much diff eq from this class except basics, but if you want a laid back class take Gamba.
Review from a student who took M427K
Gamba's lectures are practically useless. She is very hard to follow and tends only to do general proofs of theorems without giving any examples of problems. As someone else said, she may spend the whole class period doing something irrelevant then cram a single important concept into the 30 seconds before the class ends. Or she could do the opposite - talk about something that will appear again and again on your homework and test for the first 5 minutes of class, and then spend the rest of the time talking about some minor concept. I know all that sounds discouraging, but the truth is that if you get a halfway decent TA that will give you lots of examples, then you should be OK. Gamba's tests (of which there are 3 plus an optional final) are pretty easy, and she will give you some leeway on homework due dates. You don't even have to make a 90% to get an A. So to sum up, Gamba's lectures are useless but her grading system is helpful. Hope you get a decent TA and you should be able to walk away from the deal with a pretty good grade.
Gamba's lectures are practically useless. She is very hard to follow and tends only to do general proofs of theorems without giving any examples of problems. As someone else said, she may spend the whole class period doing something irrelevant then cram a single important concept into the 30 seconds before the class ends. Or she could do the opposite - talk about something that will appear again and again on your homework and test for the first 5 minutes of class, and then spend the rest of the time talking about some minor concept. I know all that sounds discouraging, but the truth is that if you get a halfway decent TA that will give you lots of examples, then you should be OK. Gamba's tests (of which there are 3 plus an optional final) are pretty easy, and she will give you some leeway on homework due dates. You don't even have to make a 90% to get an A. So to sum up, Gamba's lectures are useless but her grading system is helpful. Hope you get a decent TA and you should be able to walk away from the deal with a pretty good grade.
Review from a student who took M 427K
gamba's teaching/lecture style is simply incomprehensible. i had no idea what the hell she was saying the majority of the time. many of the things she talks about are pretty unorganized. i have attended almost all of her classes and have learned absolutely nothing. easy class my ass. her tests are difficult and i have taught myself everything this whole semester. sure she is a caring person who shows interest in her students but she is a terrible teacher.
gamba's teaching/lecture style is simply incomprehensible. i had no idea what the hell she was saying the majority of the time. many of the things she talks about are pretty unorganized. i have attended almost all of her classes and have learned absolutely nothing. easy class my ass. her tests are difficult and i have taught myself everything this whole semester. sure she is a caring person who shows interest in her students but she is a terrible teacher.
Review from a student who took M427K
Pros: She is nice, really likes to teach, simple, to the point tests, grades well. Cons: Lectures not organized, sometimes she would try to cover a major point 10 seconds before the bell, difficult to understand sometimes, the T.A. is probably why I passed the class, she would cover deltailed proofs, the T.A. would do many examples (worked for me). The cons may look greater than the pros, but they're really not.
Pros: She is nice, really likes to teach, simple, to the point tests, grades well. Cons: Lectures not organized, sometimes she would try to cover a major point 10 seconds before the bell, difficult to understand sometimes, the T.A. is probably why I passed the class, she would cover deltailed proofs, the T.A. would do many examples (worked for me). The cons may look greater than the pros, but they're really not.
Review from a student who took M 427K
Gamba is the best Diff EQ teacher out there (and by best, i mean easiest). 85% is an A in her class. She will tell you at the beginning that her class is not meant to be a weed out like some of the other profs, and this is true. Sometimes her accent is hard to understand (example: determine sounds like debt-or-mine and subtract sounds like substruct, honestly what math teacher doesn't know how to say subtract when they can pronounce 2nd order non linear homogenous Laplace Transform equations correctly (oh yeah and you'll have an appreciation for the extremely long names for each type of equation in her class)) Overall this is an extremely easy class with hw each week that is 'due' on the day specified but the TA will let you turn it in almost any time you want to. oh yeah 3 tests and no final unless you want to improve your grade. these aren't complaints i'm just giving you a sense of her personality, good luck and take her if you are able to, class fills up real fast.
Gamba is the best Diff EQ teacher out there (and by best, i mean easiest). 85% is an A in her class. She will tell you at the beginning that her class is not meant to be a weed out like some of the other profs, and this is true. Sometimes her accent is hard to understand (example: determine sounds like debt-or-mine and subtract sounds like substruct, honestly what math teacher doesn't know how to say subtract when they can pronounce 2nd order non linear homogenous Laplace Transform equations correctly (oh yeah and you'll have an appreciation for the extremely long names for each type of equation in her class)) Overall this is an extremely easy class with hw each week that is 'due' on the day specified but the TA will let you turn it in almost any time you want to. oh yeah 3 tests and no final unless you want to improve your grade. these aren't complaints i'm just giving you a sense of her personality, good luck and take her if you are able to, class fills up real fast.
Review from a student who took BLFtvnfqIqUPws
IMHO you've got the right anrwse!
IMHO you've got the right anrwse!
Review from a student who took roPuPOwsjhBTMdH
P0zPIV This is one awesome post.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
P0zPIV This is one awesome post.Much thanks again. Fantastic.