As part of the prereqs to apply to the School of McIntire, you have to take a calculus course: "Calculus: MATH 1190, 1210, 1310 or higher level." I thought I could handle a harder calculus class, especially since I had taken AP Calculus AB in high school. I decided I'd take the "slightly harder" math course, MATH 1310. Big mistake.
If I could go back and choose my classes for this semester, I would have definitely chosen MATH 1190 or even 1210. Not to mention, I'm not sure if this was a problem unique to MATH 1310 Canvas page, but while a lot of resources were offered (practice worksheets and problems, uploaded class notes, etc.) everything was hard to find and disorganized making my experience in this course harder than it had to be. I hope they fix this for future students since many of my peers spoke up about it this semester.
Moreover, this course is overseen by the professor, Daniel James, who directs 3 other non-professor instructors. They all have their own classes that they teach, and I was one of the students placed under the instruction of a graduate student. I'm sure in some cases, classes taught by graduate students may be a good idea, but I wish I had been placed in the professor's class. Many, if not all, of the concepts in this class, were previously taught to me in high school, but I feel like the way things were taught in this course was more complicated than needed. Maybe it was because my instructor saw these concepts as simple as addition, making it easy to forget to break them down before moving on to the next problem.
Overall, I didn't have the best experience in this course. What I have learned, is that if you can take an easier course to fulfill a requirement, TAKE THE EASIER COURSE. If you do end up taking this class anyway, I recommend you never skip the professor's office hours (I felt that he explained everything the best) and DEFINITELY find a good study group early on!
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17Avoid this class unless it is strictly required for your degree or you already possess strong prior calculus knowledge, as the grading relies on a punishing growth-based system where missing a perfect score on even one core requirement automatically drops your final letter grade. Lectures are regularly delivered by graduate instructors who prioritize dense theoretical explanations over clear instruction, leaving most students to teach themselves through external platforms, peer study, and heavy reliance on the course coordinator's office hours. The material is significantly more rigorous, trig-heavy, and unforgiving than standard introductory alternatives, making it a major GPA liability for those who simply need to satisfy a general prerequisite. If you still choose to enroll, prepare for disorganized course platforms and a near-zero margin for error, where consistent practice and near-flawless exam performance matter far more than steady grade improvement.
12 Reviews
For some reason, it would not let me enter a review for Daniel James on fall23, but it does not really matter since (although he was the professor) I never saw him or heard him once. The class is taught be a graduate student, which is for starters a red flag. I appreciate them trying their best, but they are just not equipped with the knowledge and experience to teach a college level calc class to us. I 10000000% think if I had a real professor instead of a graduate student my grade would have been significantly higher. TO be honest, the undergrad TA is really the only reason I even passed this class. To summarize what she emphasized, exam questions are practically the same as the practice exam ones and the 'extra problems' in the notes, so be sure to do those. The one thing I really was pleased with in this class was that even if you did not know how to solve a problem, you can write what you know and what is relevant (literally just words) and receive partial credit for understanding.