This course shouldn't have been as hard as it was. Popov is a good lecturer, but not good at explaining things in office hours. I was always more confused after meeting with him one on one. Also, the midterms are graded unbelievably harshly with most students in the class failing and still doing poorly after ridiculous curves. I would take this with anyone but Popov if I could take it over again.
Average on tests is about 35-40. Class material seems okay, then the test catches you totally off guard with things you've never seen before, or 10x harder than anything gone over in class.
Popov is interesting. Go to class and discussions. Tests and finals are hard but have faith in a curve. Pop quizzes. Problem sets are near impossible without office hours. Make some effort in the course and you will be fine
Accessible and friendly, but tests are very different than the material presented in class (which is essentially just reading out of the book)
Popov tries really hard, gets flustered during lectures occasionally but I liked him a lot. Very helpful when you go to office hours
Never take a class from Popov! I am ashamed that UVA would hire someone this awful at teaching. Don't bother going to class, because everything he teaches is word for word out of the book. Don't bother studying for the midterms or final either- most of the exam material was stuff that we had never seen before.
Professor Popov is new to the University. He would pretty much read from the textbook and do the examples that they already showed. The problem sets were mediocre; some were hard, while some were easy. However, the exams were much more difficult than the problem sets. In the end, there was a fairly large curve to make up for the low exam averages. Grades were: problem sets (15%), 2 midterms (25% each) and a final (35&)
Don't take this unless you're a major. And try to take it with someone else.
This teacher is new. There were mixed feelings from students, but the majority of the students said that this guy was really bad. He's a nice guy but a horrible teacher. He teaches straight out of the book and his tests are much harder then anything we learn in lecture. This class was just a huge pain and i wish i took it with another professor. He might shape up the next couple semesters, but my recommendation is do not take him.
