Comments Report for Fall 2012, MATH 5030 Actuarial Math
Section 1
Instructor: Georgiou, Nicos (Primary)
Instructor
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Georgiou
Student
Disposition
Text Responses
Question: Comments on course effectiveness
Especially enjoyed the examples pulled from past actuarial exams. Course notes provided instructor
were very good - they covered in more detail and clarified some proofs covered in the book.
I felt that Nicos’ availability and willingness to work with students outside of class were very valuable.
Also, Nicos was willing to offer perspective on where you stood in the class as far as grade standing
as well as comprehension wise.
Lectures and lecturenotes were very neat and helpful. Homework should be littler more.
I wasn’t a fan of making "cheat sheets" for test because it takes the emphasis off of how well you
know the material and then you are competing against your peers for who has the best notes.I loved
not having quizzes, I genuinely learn much better that way as homeworks keep me on task and i don’t
have to stress each week.
-The book isn’t terrible, but sometimes was a little confusing to navigate and read -The notes were
really helpful
I loved the notes that Nicos posted online before the tests, and I liked the amount of material that was
on each test - it was significant but not too much to handle. The book was not my favorite. Maybe a
better one could be used next semester.
It seems that adding a second semester to the course would be more effective to get through the first 3
actuarial exams. The book could definitely be improved on in organization and clarity.
I didn’t like having to figure out what route in the book we were on. I did like doing homework out of
the book.
I learn a lot of problem-solving skills, and its very important to a mathematical student. this course
main focus on the models and definition of statistic. So it will be very helpful to cultivate the ability of
the natural scientific applications .
Question: Comments, suggestions on instructor performance
Although the course content is relatively difficult, Nicos was always available to ask questions of in his
office hours. Nicos effectively uses class time: most of the class is lecture, but he regularly asks
students to work on problems in class that greatly helped my learning.
See previous comment. Additionally, Nicos is very personable with his students which makes for an
environment conducive to learning.
I loved to go to his office hours. He was very helpful during office hours. Lecture notes were really
helpful to prepare for the exams.
Nicos combines being knowledgable with keeping a casual classroom atmosphere, keep it up!
-Nicos was good at explaining the material but also made sure to let us try to discover things on our
own -He always liked to laugh and make us laugh
Nicos was so available to meet outside of class, and was a very effective instructor both in class and in
office hours. I really appreciated the comfortable atmosphere he created in class, and his
encouragement of questions.
Extremely effective instructor. He assigns a fairly heavy workload, but you understand the material
better for it. He was also very willing to go over concepts until everyone understood.
Nicos is great! His class was really hard, he makes his students really work if they want to succeed,
but he is so willing to help you!
nicos very easygoing, but treat academic is very rigorous, I think this is an excellent teacher of the
quality, and he is fully equipped. nicos is humor as well, class atmosphere is very relaxed, usually to
ask questions, he was always very patient.
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