Harold Gilman

School: Drexel University
Department: Mathematics
Location:Philadelphia, PA
Overall Rating
rated by 12 students
Helpfulness
Clarity
Easiness
Rating Comment
Overall
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Easiness
 Pros: none.
Worst professor, taught nothing. he was not sympathetic when our class average was a 50%. Did not curve. He teaches very slow and he can't hear very well. Do not take his class, whatever you do.
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 Pros: Nothing.
Cons: I once got a 76 on a test that I really answered everything correctly. Gilman forgot to add the points from the questions on the back page. When asking him to fix it he accused me of rewriting answers and saying that there's no way he could have forgot to do add points! So if you want to get 100s on tests and end up with Cs be my guest! Another thing! Had an A average throughout the course and ended up with a C+ for my final grade! No idea how, but deeply regret taking this course
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 Pros: Wonderful voice
Cons: Very boring
Wasted time
Very Boring - Prof Gilman would go off on small tangents and it was very easy to tune him out
Wasted Time - Firstly, he would spend about 5 minutes (10% of class time) calling out attendance even though attendance wasn't mandatory (though he claimed to the very last day it was)
-Secondly, He would do a whole problem on the board, writing everything out, then only to realize at the end that he made a mistake earlier on (we tried several time to show him, but his bad hearing only made things worse).
As for the homework being given but not graded, that was simply how the course was run for all professors.
I wound up going to a different lecture just to get a better understanding.
Overall
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 Pros: easy class if you already know calc
he's a nice old man
will answer your questions if you ask them
easy quizzes
Cons: if you have no background knowledge of calc, you're screwed
teaching style is hard to get used to
Gilman is a sweet old man who has a funny stance, especially when he's staring at a problem. He can't hear very well at times and makes small errors on the board. To be honest, I would only suggest to take his class if you already understand calc and can review from the textbook. He doesn't assign homework and he gives a 5 question quiz every friday. If you don't have any knowledge of calc, steer clear of this man. It's understandable to why he gets such low ratings, it's hard to learn from him b/c he just works on a few problems in class to give you the main gist but it is expected that you work on problems in the textbook yourself and come to him if you have questions. If you were assigned to him already and never took calc, I would suggest try to review from the textbook, ask MANY questions in class and go to the MLC.
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 Ugh avoid at all costs, he is horrible. He makes tons of math mistakes on the board, he does all the easy problems and then when it comes to the department tests, we are mortally screwed. His quizzes are really easy though that I can say.
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 Pros: Can't hear
Cons: Can't hear
He's OLD. Also not great at teaching, prepare to teach yourself.
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 Pros: cute
Cons: doesn't know what he's talking about
Not a great professor but he was the cutest old man ever. Try your hardest to understand him because it is pretty difficult. He is very old fashioned. I actually got a C in this class which has been my worst grade at Drexel.
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 I want to like him, but I just can't. He makes tons of mistakes on problems and he tends to pick the easier problems in the book. Which sucks because when it comes to the department tests, you won't know what to do. His quizzes are easy though, if only he makes the tests himself I'd say it would be an easy class.
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 Pros: If you know the material you can just zone out all class.
Cons: You still have to go to class because attendance is graded. Also if you don't know the material, drop it. Trust me, just drop it.
He does not teach anything. I had a tutor help me at the math center and he taught me incorrectly from what prof Gilman said, so I failed the quiz with no way to make it up. Then I had him tutor me himself for the next quiz and the midterm. I got a 30 on the quiz and a 43 on the midterm, mind you I am neither stupid nor bad at math. Just drop it.
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 he's a nice old man, but that's about it. even if he does know what he's teaching it feels like he doesn't. we had to do online assignments but he doesn't know how to use the computer, so all of the assignments tend to get messed up. if you know how to teach yourself from the book then take him. if you have no idea about math then go to another teacher that will actually explain things.
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 This guy is old and it always seems as if he has no idea what he is talking about. Avoid taking him because his idea of learning a section is by doing one homework problem and then he goes on to the next section.
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 Prof. Gilman is a really caring teacher...he wants you to do well in his class. Unfortunately, for most, that means persuading you to taking math tutoring. If you're good at learning the textbook and math on your own, you should definately take his class. It's a light workload, only 3 tests, so if you can grasp an understanding then take him.

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