Hated this class--Caldararu made this experience as hard as it could be. He never tried to help student understand difficult concepts, made himself as inaccessible as possible, and held a generally condescending attitude. Linear Algebra with proofs is already a difficult class, and Caldararu only made it worse. Would NEVER take again.

Caldararu's class was the most difficult class I've ever taken. He provided no recourses and his canvas was completely blank. He was also 5 days late on providing a syllabus. He has two midterms and a final that make up a majority of the grade, which most people failed. It also seems like he thinks he is too good to teach this class.

Very engaging prof

All criticisms are true. VERY few test prep resources. 9 HW assignments and 3 tests. Very generous curve. This class provided the most in depth understanding of math I have had so far. He can seem mean sometimes, but I don't attribute it to malice, just a misunderstanding. This was his first time teaching, we didn't get that far into linear.

Insight to how upper level math courses are. He's decent at explaining but a bit condescending sometimes because of how bright he is. He taught slowly to account for everyone's pace. Definitely ask questions in class, he will take the time to explain properly.

Would not take again. I don't even think he made it through all of the course content. He seems nice and tells some jokes, but was not prepared to teach this class. I learned little, had to search for outside resources to learn anything, he gave very little to no practice work or any homework solutions for review.

Ridiculous. No lecture notes, no practice exams and solutions, no HW solutions. His classes are way too much confusing. Many of us can't understand what he talked. He taught everything hard but they won't appear in exams.

He will belittle you and make you feel stupid for not understanding proofs (which he doesn't teach) and not understanding he feels are simple. He tells you, "study everything." Then, you are expected to have mastery level knowledge at baseline. He will just dock you points on exams with whatever he feels is right in the moment.

Cannot get a hold of this guy, ever. He expects you to know things that only higher level math classes would teach, and then would be mad when no one knew what was going on. He came to class with no notes and no plan on where to go from there. You could not pay me a million dollars to take another class with this guy.

Worst professor I have ever had. So bad, I had to drop the class with him. Lectures were confusing and Canvas was completely blank except for the syllabus. Does not answer emails and gives extraordinarily hard exams that have nothing to do with his confusing lectures. Would not wish this class on my worst enemy.

Extremely challenging content if you don't have prior knowledge of proofs and/or linear algebra concepts. He would ask if anybody knew what was happening, and like 4 out of 30 people raised their hand. His lectures are all over the place and he doesn't provide practice exams/exam review. He also get's mad when you don't understand "simple" concepts

Lectures were highly unorganized. There were multiple instances where our TAs would cover something in discussion because he just forgot to. We spent the whole semester a week behind other lecturers. He made a lot of errors in his examples. He didn't actually explain the steps to problems. He also made you feel dumb if you answered a question wrong

I took this class basically without Andrei providing anything to my learning. His lectures are extremely disorganized, he never records his lectures (bogus during covid times), and just does a poor job explaining the material. I got through this class solely because of TA & discussions & Youtube videos.

Caldararu is unintentionally funny. He says things that are hilarious. You have to attend the lectures to get the material, and the class is not recorded. That's probably the only downside. Caldararu has an accent, but it is very easy to understand!

very nice professor that sets guidelines from start. gives good intuition for the theories of calc 2

he sucks at teaching, make sure to read the textbook ahead of time. otherwise not too bad of class

He literally provided nothing! No hw solution (basically ignored numerous requests from student asking for hw solutions), No practice tests though promised one( one big exam and he said study everything), No clear grading guideline and couldn't offer cohesive reasons for project's grade ( basically sorry I don't have a rubric)

Here are the facts: HW solutions: nonexistence sample tests: promised but nonexistence project guideline/feedback: none project grading: you could do less work and got higher grade than ppl who did more work office hour: an hour each week and shared among a 700 math (got time for a vac in fl but no time for separate oh for different course)

It was a really tough class and at one point the professor told me I wouldn't even pass. His lectures were confusing I was better off learning from the textbook. Outside resources and the textbook were helpful for this class.

Andrei is very knowledgeable of the subject, and he is dedicated to his craft. He does not make the classes easy, and you really need to study to do well. I liked him, but he was really hard to read, and while his grading scale helped me in the end, he assigns grades at semester's end, so it is impossible to know how you are doing until the end.

He is an amazing lecturer. He makes math classes fun because he understands the essence of each mathematical ideas well and articulates them to the students really well too. He knows a lot of history regarding to math, this makes him a perfect teacher. Grade could be tough but if you like math, he is the best. Take Abstract Algebra with him.

Homework was irrelevant to what was taught in class, and the textbook does not help you complete the homework. He would just ramble most of the time. The homework, which was 40% of our grade, was graded primarily on correctness rather than completion. For the final project, worth 60% of the grade, if you put in time and effort, you'll do well.

Excellent instructor, one of the best I've had in three years as a math major. Lectures are interesting and easy to follow, and homework and exams are very fair and directly related to material covered in lectures. If you get a chance to take one of his courses, do it!

Great teacher, homework is relevant to lectures. Exams were extremely fair

This is probably the worst class I will have to take during my academic career at Madison. He spends unnecessary time with proofs. No answers are given to the homework so you'll have no idea if you're doing it right. Average for our second midterm was a 40. I knew many other students in the class who were sure they were going to fail. A nightmare

The lectures were not helpful at all, he mainly just did proofs and often messed up on practice problems. It felt like he put next to no effort into teaching this class.

Writes proofs all lecture that are not helpful for the tests. Also doesn't plan lectures well ahead of time, so makes a lot of mistakes, and it's hard to follow. You pretty much have to teach yourself calculus.

One month in, and this professor is literally the worst one I've ever had. He may be a smart guy but he is a jerk to students and just writes proofs on the board while talking very fast. You'll need to teach yourself everything. DO NOT TAKE CALCULUS FROM THIS PROFESSOR.

Lecturs are okay. Grades extremly harah

Just did examples directly from the book every lecture, so its worthless to go. The exam questions look nothing like anything in the book or rarely done in lecture, example test questions are nonexistent, no help for exams

Essentially, the lectures consist of nothing but proofs with no examples/applications at all. Further, his tests have very little to do with the homework that is assigned, making it very difficult to study for your grade. In lecture, he finds it difficult to use practical examples, and as such, I would not advise anyone to take this class.

An okay teacher, but really didn't help me understand any of the material at all (the class was tough for me just in itself). Didn't use a lot of examples, just wrote proofs on the board and expected you to understand.

I seriously taught myself everything in this class, well my TA was pretty cool/good (Tu) as well. He's a nice guy, responds to emails quickly, but really just an average prof. His accent is fine and easy to understand. Does alright examples in class, that's about it. Doesn't post old exams online :(

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Teaches the concepts of calculus and doesn't use many examples. Result: Learned mostly from the book. Tests are usually 4 questions, 25 points each, with VERY little partial credit awarded.

Exams are not that hard, but there isn't much partial credit. The exams consist of 4 questions and one stupid, small mistake can mean the difference between average and failing. on the second exam i graphed a problem wrong and got 22 points off... no partial credit

Actually pretty decent for a math professor. His exams aren't the easiest, but he goes over everything in lecture if you pay attention. I've had better, but I've also had much worse.

not an effective professor, exams are very easy however

Took this guy last year, it wasnt anything special besides the too small/tight shirts he be wearing. Final was horrible, it was more like math 221 than math 114 in the exam.

Caldararu, Caldararu. His accent takes a little bit of getting used to, a tad bit difficult. He seemed well intentioned, but a little bit preoccupied when approached for help. His lectures were about average, however, his handwriting is close to illegible by the end of the lecture. Sit in the front rows if at all possible.

He is a decent professor that welcomes questions. He is very willing to explain a problem more fully if anyone has a question about it. He spends too much time going over unnecessary proofs. Overall is a decent professor but the TA's help out more than him.

Lectures were somewhat of a help. Exams were not bad if you did the homework. Fortunately I had an incredible TA.

Terrible prof. Didin't make things clear at all and half the time the exams didn't even correspond to the homework he assigned. Don't take him if you want to continue enjoying math.

Caldararu is an ass. He looks down on students for not taking upper-level physics courses. Exams are difficult. He spends his time in lecture writing out proofs. Very little time is spent explaining and zero is spent applying math to actual problems. Awful professor. Would've been unbearable without good TAs.