Maxim I don't think is teaching at UW-Madison moving forward from the Fall 2023 semester, but he was interesting. Sometimes hard to understand, but cared enough to make lectures entertaining.

Seeing the reviews on here quite surprised me. He was a respectful lecturer and accommodated student needs well. Also, he was easy to understand and made good use of lecture time. There were some exceptions, as he did go on useless tangents a few times, albeit those few times were few and far between.

READ THE ONLINE BOOK!!! Max, as he asks to be called, is hilarious and does go over lots of content in class. It will be hard to follow if you are expecting to learn from lecture, but it is very useful if you have read through the section in the book before hand. It's a hard class but if you do some pre-work you will be able to stay on top of it

As good as a math professor can be in my opinion. He explained things alright and goes through many practice problems in class. The issues in the course lie within the exams being massive percents of your grade and extremely difficult but unfortunately they are the same regardless of who you have as a professor.

A kind of derogatory, condescending professor that probably need not be teaching students. He thinks he knows everything, and belittles students in class; playing uncomfortable jokes on them. I personally felt bad for some students who seemed to not understand the subject quite well, and he makes fun of them when asking questions in class .

Many definitions in the lecture, make sure to review all materials more than once. Also, pay attention to EVERY exercise he went through before the exam, which has high probability to show up in the exam. Also an extra credit problem in the final akin to one of the past challenging HW questions. Also available outside of classes. Overall, not bad.

No comment! He's a tough grader and makes you feel depressed in class. He doesn't like giving extra credits and generally have very high expectations in exams. He has his own way of writing a proof, so if he miss something, you will lose tons of points. Not a good professor at all.

He has a condescending behavior toward his students, sometimes sarcastic. He has an accent which is sometimes hard to understand but the lectures are okay. Lots of homework and the exams are very hard with so little time. His expectations are a lot from students but his lectures or teaching do not meet that. Overall, stay away from him!

MATH521!(cant create a new course code) Not much homework and not very hard exams as long as you really spend time on it. Also gives extra credit for exams. Pretty good professor, I took it 22 spring, and it was his first time teaching 521

he is an average lecturer. Hardly gives any extra credits on the tests. Kind of rude at times but it's okay.

He is a good lecturer and does his best to explain the concepts clearly using lots of pictures. However, the course is graded by 30% midterm and 40% final and the rest is homework. If you don't do well on the midterm, then you will be probably get C or D since there is hardly a good curve. It's challenging to get a good grade. Overall average

Horrible experience, zero empathy. Don't take him.

His lectures weren't good but I've had worse. He didn't like to grade papers or homework, so we were graded by true-false tests and open-ended quizzes that TA's graded. If you complete the optional homework and listen to the lectures you will get a good grade.

This is my first time ever rating 1 star for a professor. I usually try to like professors even though they may have a bad reputation. However, Maxim's class was really boring. His recorded lectures were just reading stuff from the textbook VERBATIM. Just expect to self-study a lot. Tbh most intro level math courses so far were 90% self teaching

Extremely rude to students, lectures are really just reading slides, slides are really just adapted from textbook, so reading textbook directly is better than taking his class. Exam contents are very different from his lectures and quizzes, so lectures can only help a little on exams, so you have to google for random questions and pray for luck.

very rude, intimidating, and overall unprofessional.

Advantage : "I feel" lectures are very organized and grading is fair. Disadvantage : "I feel" some exam questions are out of material and explanation.

Professor was not helpful over email and made you feel dumb if you asked questions. No calculator was allowed but our final had calculations with 5 and 6 digit numbers and ugly fractions. Some problems Maxim couldn't solve himself but they would still appear on our exams.

Terrible experience and did not explain material well.

I don't want to see him again.

the most horrible, rude, and stubborn professor i've ever had. waste of money and time to take him.

I cannot express enough how bad this man is. He is geniunely the most malicious teacher I have ever had in 15 years of education. Many people had technical difficulties and he emailed us to stop contacting him and that they would be recieving 0s. He changed the exam format 3 times before the final actually happened. Not a good teacher and careless.

There is a deep disconnect between lecture content and quiz/exam content. Lectures are dry recounts of the textbook, and the professor's interactions with students are thoroughly discouraging. By far the most unreasonable class I have ever taken.

Extremely rude to students on Piazza posts, class average on the final is 50%, STAY AWAY. TAKE 340 WITH LITERALLY ANY OTHER PROFFESOR.

Dude really does lack any ounce of empathy. He doesnt even teach; he reads straight from the textbook and then belittles you if you are confused. Tests are extremely unfair; 10 T/F questions, each test worth 25% of final grade. The grading doesnt accurately reflect your skills, just how well you can guess.

I said mandatory attendance because part way through the semester he decided to make attendance to problem solving sessions worth extra credit if you went to enough. Kept changing how quizzes and final would work. Unaccommodating and rude to students. Offered extra credit if you did your quiz in a certain format, but people would run out of time.

Max was extremely rude and unaccommodating during our online classes in the pandemic. His lectures were taken straight from the textbook and the exams were 10 T/F questions that were 25% of your grade. He changed the format of our final exam within two days and refuses to acknowledge student suggestions, regarding them as complaints. Don't take.

I am not fond of him for changing policies so quickly and being so stubborn during COVID times as well. Kept two unfair midterms with only T/F questions ( which btw accounted for 50% of your grade). Changed final exam policies to help students out and then later reverted to stricter policies in 5 days. Extremely erratic, unfair behavior.

Never explain concepts clearly in his lecture. He just read ppt and explains nothing. Reading a textbook is greater than taking his lectures. And the awful thing is the unfair exam. Midterm only test 10 t/f questions and midterm is 25% GPA each. that means you make one wrong answer and your GPA gets deducted by 2.5%.

Unfair grading with exams, does not really explain concepts well. Avoid this lecturer if possible, reads off the book/his notes for lectures rather than actually teaching.

horrible. rude. the worst.

He is the worst. Makes class so difficult. Doesn't understand student's stress or the difficulty of the pandemic. Will be rude or laugh at you if you ask for help.

Terrible professor. Skips too much in lectures where it is impossible to understand anything. Assumes students are familiar with everything. Unfair midterms with T/F questions. Offers almost zero flexibility. Rude professor overall and a terrible teacher. DO NOT TAKE ANY OF HIS CLASSES.

Don't EVER take his class. He is the most irresponsible professor I've ever met. You will totally get mocked by him

RUDE NOT AT ALL HELPFUL SARCASTIC. YOU CAN'T ASK HIM FOR HELP COZ HE THINKS STUDENTS COMPLAIN TOO MUCH. MAKES THE COURSE UNECCESSARILY DIFFICULT

RUN! He would complain students didn't participate, then outright call them stupiid and laugh at them. If you did the tiniest thing wrong in an exam, you would be failed and mocked. Expect absolutely no empathy from him whatsoever. You could be in the hospital and he wouldn't move a deadline for you. Took 340 with another prof and easily got an A.

Worst prof I've ever had at UW. I emailed him my concerns and not once did he respond. He spent the whole lecture talking about proofs that were hard for me, someone with no calc background, to understand. On a midterm, I didn't carry a negative sign and he took off over half the points on a 12 point problem. My TA was also confused and of no help.

I can not imagine how difficult this class would be for someone with no calculus background. I took AP Calc in high school and still found this course to be one of the most mentally taxing classes I've ever taken. While it's clear that Max is passionate about what he does, he is hard to follow and spends a large portion of class rambling.

The most boring and unhelpful lecture ever. Lectures consist of few examples and he just rattles of definitions that do not help to solve in the future. I relied solely on my past AP calculus knowledge and some khan academy to pass. He tries to make lectures entertaining through jokes yet the pace is so slow it is impossible to stay engaged.

Max is a solid choice for a math professor. His lectures are generally clear and easy to follow. I struggled in the class because I had never taken Calculus before, but if you put in the work you will do fine. He is a funny professor who tries to make his students laugh.

Max did a great job of explaining those theorems with neat handwriting. Love him and definitely take him for other courses!

He makes me angry, his lectures are so confusing and doesn't teach clearly.

Dr. Maxim is a fantastic lecturer. His ability to give a sense of intuition to complex ideas in a concise and understandable format is among the best I've seen so far at this school. I would advise all mathematics students to put in the effort to get him as your lecturer, it'll be worth it.

Very organized course.

Exams were harder than previous semesters, producing low averages. Final exam's average was a 59%. The professor was gone half the time and the substitutes were hard to understand. Poor communication between TAs and the professor. A month before the final, my TA said the professor set the curve as 86+ is an A, but raised it to 88% after the final

The exams averages were very low. The final exams average was 59 (F). Max was gone for about a quarter of the class on week long trips. Random substitutes came in and some of them were very difficult to understand.

Very funny and a solid prof. A lot of people blame him for their own laziness. Pay attention in lecture and do the homework and you should be fine. Tests are very similar to reviews.

Where to start. The class average on the midterms was about 35%? I was told that spending 15 hours per week out of class simply wasn't enough? Solutions weren't given for homework. Grading on the midterms had three options for each question, 0 if you didn't try, 1 if you tried and got it wrong, 10 if you got it right. Would not recommend.

He's actually very nice and funny! Students take him for granted and blamed him for their grades, lol. He explains thoroughly but fast. Just ask him a question if you don't understand, he'll explain more!

Professor Maxim is not a very good lecture. I taught myself the majority of the information in Calc. His lectures just consist of many sample problems that he rushes through without much explanation. Tests are very heavily weighted, so make sure you do the practice tests, they help a lot.

His teaching is really in-cohesive and his explanations are ALWAYS all over the place. He's one of the worst math instructors I have ever had. His lectures literally make me depressed. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! Discussions are 10000x better than going to his lectures.

I took calculus in high school and I respected Maxim because he was very caring but the two different teaching styles confused me a bit. Kahn Academy is a lifesaver. Do not have to go to lectures but I would definitely go to discussion.

Professor Max is one of the better math professors to have. He's kind of funny during lectures, although those lectures sometimes are convoluted and require time outside of class to really nail down what was taught. However, he explains concepts very well once you understand them, and he cares about his students.

Maxim has a dry sense of humor and is pretty sarcastic at times. However, he manages to get the job done. His lectures could be a bit confusing at times, and he occasionally had trouble with the technology when teaching, but otherwise, he's very helpful especially when you ask him questions. Thanks to him I slowly regained my confidence in math.

You fail a test: you fail the class. Test questions are graded are the answer and the work. You don't have one or the other you miss the whole question ( as well as part b,c, etc). Hard to understand guy and easily mad.

Great class! Maxim is awesome! Very helpful outside of the class!

421 is a great math class. Maxim is a smart professor, and he explains things well. Very helpful outside of the class. I would 100% recommend taking his class.

Maxim is very sarcastic but very funny. The lectures can be a bit dry, (it's math, what do you expect?) but his comments make class somewhat enjoyable. Homework was fair (I suggest getting Chegg), and exams were exactly like the practice exam.

The classes final was 40%. No one learned a darn thing. The cause of much undo stress and anxiety. I got a "C" and ran with it, when I am typically an "A" student. The exams would never check to see if you got basic or intermediate concepts, only the very HARDEST possible concepts and ideas. He didn't care one bit (told us he blocked us on email).

Max really is a tough guy to assess. He gives a ton of homework (DO THIS; all exam questions are from homework... final exam was ALL challenge problems from it), but the homework genuinely does help. He's good @ explaining concepts, but decided to make our final exam impossible (clearly, based on the 40% average on the final). Not the worst option.

Going to lecture for this class really did not help. If you've never taken calculus, definitely look into getting some help outside of class unless your T.A. is a god. Max is super sarcastic but also barely deigned himself worthy of teaching Calc 211 students. Be ready to look elsewhere for help, definitely do the challenge problems!

All test questions are taken straight from the homework. Homework is mandatory and can be quite lengthy due to this. The curve is typically very generous, not as much for my semester because the class did terribly and got a 44.5% on the final. If you know anything going about calc going into it you will get a B or higher.

Overall, Max was a good professor. I rarely attended lecture and discussion and still did well in the class. Make sure you read the textbook and put an effort into the homework, and also study from the practice exam. Although his final exam was challenging, he graded accordingly so that it was fair. I would take calc 211 with Max again!

Max assigns a lot of homework, but his midterms and exam is all homework questions. His practice tests are very similar to the real ones, but be able to do ALL of the homework questions assigned. He is very helpful during office hours and wants students to put in work and succeed, but can be very scarcastic. It was manageable if you put in effort.

Max is a pretty decent professor, but is extremely sarcastic and rude when you ask questions. His midterms are almost identical to the practice ones and come from homework. He gives very lengthy HW assignments, but they help. However, his final was ridiculously hard; average was a 45% and he claimed nobody studied hard enough... Still your best bet

This class is hard enough to make you do a lot of work but if you put in the time to understand the material it is pretty manageable. Exams are very similar to practice exams and Maxim explains the material very thoroughly and makes it easy to understand.

Sucks that I have to take this class as a sophomore during spring semester because I forgot a lot of calc so it was a challenging to catch up. Lecture is mostly based on the textbook (use ex from book), so I believe you can just learn based on textbook. Going to discussion helps. Exam is a bit hard. Final is cumulative :(

Nice guy overall who tells the corniest jokes during lecture. Midterms are literally exactly like the practice midterm he sends out before the actual exam, so if you know how to do those, you will pass. Progressively gives out more and more homework as the semester goes on. He is easy to understand and gives plenty of examples in lecture.

So far I really like "Max" as a professor. He's pretty solid at giving explanations on concepts that are a bit tricky. The practice exams he gives out are EXTREMELY similar to the actual exams, so if you can do those, you'll be fine. However, he does give quite a bit of homework, but the homework is never unbearably hard. I would definitely take'm

Max makes a very boring lecture a little brighter with his humor. He is a sweet guy, and you can tell he just wants us all to understand. I would not take a class with him again because he assigns way too much unnecessary homework.

The content in the lecture is exactly from the textbook and Professor Maxim may just go through it. His pace is really fast so it may be a little difficult to comprehend. Extra time after class is needed. But he is really a nice and humorous professor.

Maxim is a very funny professor. Math 375's material is hard but once you get a grasp of proof writing and review before tests, it's a straight A cause if you can manage to enroll in this course your math is pretty solid already.

This class was a proof based class, so he really emphasized WHY things are the way they are. It was a great class and Max did a great job teaching it.

Max brings personality to his lectures and adds humor, making them much more bearable. He's a great professor but expects a lot from his students. The course is very difficult and requires a lot of outside of class work, but if you prepare enough the tests aren't terrible. If you read the book and review lecture notes you'll be able to get by:)

Max was a fun and informative professor, but he sometimes decides not to go over things because he figures everyone already grasps them (not typically the halmark of a great professor.) His tests are very fair and overall the class was edifying.

This is the kind of teacher you can learn about. Take his class you'll be benefiting from a cool and helpful class. Max is the best...I f you do not study hard ...you'll have hard time but if you will no problem . GOOD LUCK!

Best teacher i know myself.

This class is a breeze if you had calc in HS. Exams can be challenging if you are not well-prepared. The practice tests help a lot though.

I gave up on Priya after the first week of classes. I went to Maxim's office hours instead. He posted practice exams on the web, which were very similar to the actual tests. He recycles problems from old exams, so try to work as many of these as possible.

I had a hard time with my TA (Priya), but the professor was OK. Going to his office hours helped me a lot. I got Bs in both midterms and I felt really bad about the final, but I ended up with a B in this class so the curve was reasonable.

You need to work hard to get a good grade, but it's totally worth it! It felt so good when I finally understood how math works instead of memorizing formulas. This teacher encourages students to think, which may scare mediocre students away.

I used to hate math, but he made Calculus into a fun class to take.

Max is a very good teacher, laid back and with a good sense of humor. Just work out the homework and the extra credit problems, and you will get an easy A. Exams are similar to the practice tests, and consist mainly of homework problems. Highly recommended if you have a reasonable interest in Calculus. Not recommended if you don't plan to work hard

The midterms and final were very similar to the practice exams so make sure you can do and fully understand all the problems, and can do them with trig. The subject itself is very difficult, but compared to other professors in this subject his section seems easier.

Awesome professor. He is really laid back and takes time to make sure you really understand what is going on.

Extremely relaxed and laid back approach to math; always got behind the other class, but hey he wanted to make sure we really understood it well: always available in office hours and quite friendly; definitely not an autonomic robot like most math profs.

he's nice and funny sometimes. his teaching was clear and understandable. it's nice to have him as a math teacher.

He was funny and pretty cool. His office hours were long and he went pretty slow and made sure you understood. He was pretty cool.

Max was my favorite teacher this year. He makes class enjoyable and very easy to understand. This is the second semester that I am taking 221 after dropping it near the end of first semester with instructor Malekpour. Maxim was a much better teacher and wrote easier exams. I scored an A and B on each midterm respectively and ended up with an A.