Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
Johnston was not a good professor for this upper-level theoretical math classes. He would actually refer to large sections of proofs as "hand wavy" a few times each lecture.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
MATTHEW JOHNSTON
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He's very good at explaining the material, and his lecture notes are pretty good. The homework takes forever and will destroy your weekends. The exams are fairly difficult given how squeezed for time you'll feel, but (usually) nothing from out of left field. If you put in the effort, AB is pretty much the worst case scenario.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I would recommend Professor Johnston for anyone who needs or wants to take differential equations. Very clear during lecture. Very happy to answer questions. Puts lecture notes online prior to lecture and are honestly better than the text book.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
The course was tough and the final exam was brutal (luckily the grading scale is extremely generous), but I cannot imagine a better professor for this class. He articulates well, gets you interested and explains concepts clearly. If you have trouble understanding something, he is very good at checking email and his office hours are reasonable.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Best math professor I've had so far. Online notes are immensely helpful, I wish every math prof did the same. Example problems give enough info to succeed on homework and exams. Speaks loud and clear in lecture. Gives challenging homework problems that really make you learn the material. Overall, awesome prof. Final exam was long, but expected.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
This guy is great. He presents everything clearly and thoroughly. His typed notes are excellent, so you don't even have to take notes during class and can pay attention to the actual lecture itself (or not go at all...) Homework can be lengthy but is doable and the midterms were fair, but the final surprisingly difficult. Never used the book.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with MATTHEW JOHNSTON
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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Recorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
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Instructor identity & provenance
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