Fall 2026

Point-set Topology

Covers topological spaces, connectedness, compactness, separation axioms, and metric spaces.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Caglar Uyanik4.4/5

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Arun Ram, Mingzhong Cai: Workload varies significantly; Arun Ram assigned tons of homework causing late nights, while Mingzhong Cai’s take-home exams required over ten hours per midterm despite being difficult.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(MATH 234 or 375) and (MATH 341, 375, 421, 467, or 521), graduate/professional standing, or declared in Mathematics VISP (undergraduate or graduate)

MATH 551 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

Caglar Uyanik

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.86/5 from 29 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews: Caglar Uyanik is the current instructor. Lu Wang and Paige Hillen delivered clear, organized lectures with manageable workloads, while Mingzhong Cai and Alex Waldron explained concepts well but assigned difficult exams or heavy homework. Conversely, Shengwen Gan and Mustafa Kalafat were seen as disorganized, and Amir Assadi and Laurentiu Maxim faced criticism for pacing and strict grading.

ALEX WALDRON is recorded teaching in Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

AMIR ASSADI is recorded teaching in Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

AUTUMN KENT is recorded teaching in Fall 2014. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LAURENTIU MAXIM is recorded teaching in Fall 2021. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

LU WANG is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Fall 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MINGZHONG CAI is recorded teaching in Spring 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MUSTAFA KALAFAT is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAIGE HILLEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SEAN PAUL is recorded teaching in Spring 2009, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2020, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SHENGWEN GAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

XIUXIONG CHEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2008. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction41 / 400
LEC 002Classroom Instruction39 / 400

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Lu Wang, Paige Hillen: Paige Hillen and Lu Wang provide clear, organized lectures that help students grasp difficult topology concepts, with Hillen’s homework effectively preparing students for manageable exams.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.03 GPA, 44.8% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.20 GPA, 55.4% A/AB (n=65 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 62.5% A/AB (n=40 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Arun Ram, Mingzhong Cai: Workload varies significantly; Arun Ram assigned tons of homework causing late nights, while Mingzhong Cai’s take-home exams required over ten hours per midterm despite being difficult.

Historical reviews of Alex Waldron, Autumn Kent: Students appreciate intuitive examples and clear explanations from instructors like Autumn Kent and Alex Waldron, though Kent’s lack of provided solutions was noted as a frustration.

Topics

  • Topological spaces
  • Connectedness
  • Compactness
  • Separation axioms
  • Metric spaces

Skills

  • Understanding topological spaces, connectedness, compactness, separation axioms, and metric spaces.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
MATH 551 · Fall 2026

Point-Set Topology

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:600:011687",
    "course_id": "MATH 551",
    "course_uid": "course_7d3f055b392d74c588d35d0b",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "011687",
    "source_subject_id": "600",
    "title": "Point-Set Topology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "d9be551fa8a0d0a9ee6f9a92d0ec657029e6304e304e9211c03553081dbfe5ed",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}