Current instructor

Scott Hiatt

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.20/5 from 5 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

MATH 320
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Great professor. So incredibly boring to listen to but he explained the concepts so well and he clearly cared if we understand the content. He would walk through all problems and stop during lectures to explain and answer any questions we had. We were always ahead of the curriculum and would do review days in the middle of the semester. 9/10
Rate My Professors ↗
MATH 320
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Lectures are hard to get through. Scott uses fill-in-the-blank worksheets for his lectures and it's almost better to just teach yourself through homework and discussion worksheets.
Rate My Professors ↗
MATH 320
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
His lectures were actually the biggest waste of time. He also provided very minimal help for exams. All the practice exams had questions that were not on the exam. He also yelled at me in class to put my phone away, and respectfully I am paying thousands of dollars to take your class, so I will be on my phone if I want to be.
Rate My Professors ↗
MATH 320
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He was very helpful with questions and I would definitely take a class from him again. It is a 300 level math class at Madison so it isn't easy but there is very little homework at least. Essentially, the three exams make up almost all of your grade but they have like 8 previous exams available that are almost exactly the same as the actual exam.
Rate My Professors ↗
MATH 320
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
The course has a sharp difficulty curve about 1/3 of the way through, and the professor teaches like the students know the material ahead of time. Tough grader and mediocre lectures. Grade cutoffs are strict and are not adjusted in favor of the students (contradicting the syllabus). No rounding available.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Scott Hiatt

Introduction to linear algebra and differential equations, emphasizing the connection between linear algebra theory and analytical/numerical techniques for solving differential equations.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · Scott Hiatt

Scott Hiatt taught MATH 320 with a steep difficulty curve and strict grade cutoffs that reviewers felt contradicted the syllabus, though he was helpful with questions. Assessments relied heavily on three exams for which practice materials were provided, but students disagreed on whether lectures and worksheets were effective or a waste of time compared to self-study.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027MATH 320Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
Fall 2026MATH 320Linear Algebra and Differential Equations

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_cbaa7816d43c2386e541298e",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "shiatt",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Scott Hiatt",
  "email": "SHIATT@WISC.EDU",
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 5,
    "quality": 3.2,
    "difficulty": 3,
    "quality_count": 5,
    "difficulty_count": 5,
    "profile_id": "rmp:3153000",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/3153000",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 18:35:31.716079+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_0002a781bc9543f3a2ac1a94": {
        "review_count": 5,
        "quality": 3.2,
        "difficulty": 3,
        "quality_count": 5,
        "difficulty_count": 5
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.567354864397176,
    "prior_mean": 3.65919358049647,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_0002a781bc9543f3a2ac1a94",
      "course_id": "MATH 320",
      "title": "LINEAR ALGEBRA AND DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 2.948
    }
  ],
  "revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/SCOTT_HIATT"
}