He was an ok teacher the problem was the grading. He would take points off for formatting errors that weren't even in the rubric and when you would ask about it he would say that he couldn't change it even though in the rubric you would hit all of the criteria. Also he would have office hours maybe once a month as he was never there.Rate My Professors ↗
Current instructor
Travis Olson
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
really goodRate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Professor Travis Olson is one of the best teachers I have ever had in my life. People throw shade on him purely because Calculus 2 is a hard class to teach, but in my experience, he is a great teacher. He is very good at teaching and is able to simplify EVERY topic in Calculus 2, so much so that anyone can understand.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Olson is great at explaining and working through long problems. The class is SO exam heavy. Practice tests are a must, and I took more than 5 for each exam. Lecture attendance is important but if you miss a few and stay on schedule you'll be fine. Discussion did not help me at all in this class, but I image it helps for some people.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Travis is a really great professor and explains things very well. He is super fun and makes math lectures fun to go to. It is a really difficult class and that is the nature of calculus but he made it doable. Most of the TAs are not very helpful but Dhruv is the best TA ever! You have to teach yourself a lot of things but do lots of practice.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
I do not like math at all and still managed to get a good grade in this. The math is very rudimentary and he explains it in very accessible ways. Very laid-back. Lots of tests, but they're easy and he drops a lot of them. No final unless you bombed a previous test and want to retake. Highly recommend as a basic math class for non-STEM majors.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with Travis Olson
MATH 112
College Algebra
3 creditsCollege Algebra covers properties, equations, and graphs of elementary functions, providing algebra skills required for calculus.
Offering recorded · Fall 2026
Travis Olson is described as personable but ineffective, with reviews citing tangents, fill-in-the-blank notes, and self-teaching requirements. Students report that quizzes are frequent and tests often differ from class material, leading to frustration and minimal feedback.
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2026Recorded teaching history
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 | MATH 112 | College Algebra |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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