Samuel Fryer

School: Cal Poly Pomona
Department: Mathematics
Location:Pomona, CA
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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 When you arrive to his class, everything that will be taught for that class lecture will be up there. What's bad about it is that he will just go along the stuff written on the board and you're struggling writing the material down and understanding what he's explaining simultaneously.
}It's advisable to come early and copy the work down so you can sit back and listen. Because he does this, he's nothing more than a mobile textbook since the work on the board is directly copied from the book. So most likely, this will be a self-taught course because he can't teach for beans. I suggest taking a different instructor.
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 Professor fryer seems to have an understanding of the material even though he usually doesn't have an immediate answer to many of the questions that students have for him during class. His teaching methods defiantly need improvement since he's essentially regurgitating (almost word for word)every explanation and example from the book. Throughout the entire quarter he has stuck to his this method of teaching, and usually doesn't solve any other problem on the board since he frequently makes arithmetic errors. He seems to be more helpful during his office hours when he isn't as pressed for time; however, you might be better off trying to learn the material on your own. His class is composed of 2 midterms, a final exam, and daily homework that he grades. If you score higher on your final than one of the midterms then that midterm will be replaced with your final exam score(big plus I.M.O.) However, his exams are challenging. IF you can do the homework without using a solution manual for a majority of the problems then you should do fine, if not well on his exams. The homework is long and seems to have unnecessary problems that are assigned. I would not recommend taking any of his classes unless you would feel confident that you can learn most of the material on your own. Oh, and he curves if the class bombs.
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 Professor Fryer is a cool person and will help you in his office hours. He knows his stuff but lacks on getting the message across. I am a transfer student and this was my firs math class here at Cal Poly Pomona. He just writes examples on the board and does his best to explain them. So just sit and try to comprehend what he is doing. Is pointless to copy his notes. Just copy the stuff when he says is not in your book. Get the solutions manual for sure 100% recommended. It will save so much time when you get stuck. One of my friends got it midway to class because he couldnt stand getting stuck. He only grade 3 or 4 problems on homework so is good and bad. Once i didn't turn in like half of the homework and still got full marks. He picked different problems everytime. Try to get Stewart edition book somehow (there is an online free version just google it and the solutions manual for it too) because he assign problems from there for the quizzes. Try to do good in the first half of the class because its easy. The second half is kinda hard so just do your best. He gave us like 8 quizzes. Three of them were in class and pretty easy. Five of them were take home and were challenging. For midterms try to do the reviews ahead of time so you can ask for help on your weaknesses. He assigns couple of questions to each student so he can explain it on the board( good extra credit points). For the final just try to do couple of similar problem to the study sheet he gives you because it was identical. I wasn't like 30% of the time in class because I thought it was pointless with a teacher like him but I went to his office hours when i got stuck with something while i was studying the book. I think this is my second C ever but whatever. Grade Received: C
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 To begin I must say I am not a big fan of calculus. I am an ME student trying to finish my core courses. Although Fryer knew the material and was a very nice prof, he seems to have trouble teaching it. He fills the boards up with the examples out of the book and then trys to fill in empty spaces, writing SIDEWAYS, rather than just erasing a board. Kind of a pain. I didn't take notes because everything he put on the board was directly in the book. All the quizzes and exams pull problems from the Stewart book so sometimes a problem in there is new because Rogawski didn't cover it. That is frustrating. He obviously spends a lot of time grading, every homework assignment and quiz/exam has red ink all over it. If you get a problem wrong he will work it out on your paper. Obviously dedicated but kind of picky and frugal grading. Don't expect full credit on much except the homework (assigned everyday). Quizzes were often take home but graded hard as well. The final was cumulative but NO EQUATION SHEET ALLOWED! In ME I like that you may bring all the equations you need - you must only know how and when to apply them. I hate exams that are all about memorization and I feel that is what hurt my grade most. Approx. 5% HW, 10% quizzes, 33% final, and 50% exams (he uses a point system, I know they don't add up). This was my first C ever and although I'm not happy about it, I am happy to be done with this class! Grade Received: C+
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 To start off, Professor Fryer is an extremely nice and approachable person. This is my second time taking Professor Fryer. I took him for Mat 116 and I got a B+. As with any math class, it has a tendency to get dry, but he did his best not to make it seem so. This class was pretty straight forward: 2 midterms, 1 final, daily hw, and a few quizes which some ended up being take home. His lectures weren't that terrible, along as you listen and take notes you'll be fine. His tests had no tricks and was a straight representation of what was covered in lecture. Overall, this professor is not as bad as people portray him to be. Grade Received: A-
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 Professor Fryer really isn't as bad as many of these reviews portray him. I found that his midterms and final were very representative of the things he taught us. No surprises. And thats really all I can ask for. Most of the quizzes he gave us were take home, which I happened to like very much. My only gripe was the way he grades homework. Every time you turn in an assignment he randomly pick 2-3 problems and grades them as if it were a test problem. This is VERY frustrating when you get back homework assignments with 5/10 when you genuinely tried all the problems. So, after the first few homeworks, I bought the solutions manual, and made sure my homework was flawless. Other than that though, I was pleased with this class. As long as you study the homeworks and quizzes you will do good on the midterms. Professor Fryer is a really nice, hardworking guy, and does not deserve these bad reviews. I would recommend him. Grade Received: B
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 Ok hes obviously not that great of a teacher. But seriously hes not as bad as most of the reviews on here say. I skipped through his Mat 116 with a high B and never thought his tests were unfair or that he sleighted me in any way. He is not a good teacher and most of my learning was done at home out of the book but if you ask him specific questions he will anser them just fine, its only when no one asks him anything that he goes off into his math ramble land and everyone falls asleep. Put some effort into his class and it will be fine, just like every other college class as far as I can tell.
}Also hes very friendly and I thought he was hilarious all quarter. Reminded me of someone who has done too much acid. Grade Received: B+
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 I don't understand why other people grade this instructor so badly. MAT 214 is NOT easy I'll give you that. However, this instructor gave me so much help when I needed one. His teaching aren't that bad either. If you can just show up to every class meeting and listen to his lecture without daydreaming, I guarantee you that you'll do fine in this class. Fryer is a cool guy. Not the best but definitely not the worst. He even gives out extra credits!! Not many math professors don't do that. I recommend him for MAT 214. Grade Received: A-
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 This professor is one of those stereotypical eccentric math nuts. He seems to understands the concepts himself, but cannot teach it to others. He stumbles through the class notes, seemingly more absorpbed in getting through the proofs and mumbling his own thoughts while writing on the board. He is definitely a believer in theory and not a good teacher of practical application. If you must take him, be sure to go to his office hours and reviews. He is better at explaining things one-on-one, but still doesn't measure up to some of the other Math 116 professors. So, if you have a choice, do yourself a favor and take another section. Grade Received: D
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 I truly don't know what i got yet...but i went in to the final with a D. I had previously signed up for Von Bremen's class, and at the first day of school, we had an instructor change, and guess who? yeah, Fryer. I initially thought of dropping the class, but i had never gotten lower than a B in a math class, so i though "Oh it shouldn't be too bad, as long as I do my hk and pay attention i'll be ok." I was wrong... i had never done so much hk,and studied so hard for a math class like i did this qrt., the sad part is that it took time away from other classes and i will probably not even pass Fryers class anyway. Truly is not worth it. If you want ur pride to be demolished, take his class. Grade Received: D
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 I truly don't know what i got yet...but i went in to the final with a D. I had previously signed up for Von Bremen's class, and at the first day of school, we had an instructor change, and guess who? yeah, Fryer. I initially thought of dropping the class, but i had never gotten lower than a B in a math class, so i though "Oh it shouldn't be too bad, as long as I do my hk and pay attention i'll be ok." I was wrong... i had never done so much hk,and studied so hard for a math class like i did this qrt., the sad part is that it took time away from other classes and i will probably not even pass Fryers class anyway. Truly is not worth it. If you want ur pride to be demolished, take his class. Grade Received: D
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 DONT TAKE THIS F*CKER. He does not really teach anything. He writes what ever hes gonna TRY to teach on the board before the students come in. He just goes over it really fast without explaining anything. He asks the students if they have questions but not enough is tought to have questions about anything he's talking about. Just avoid him. If you were in his TuTh 8:00 AM class in Fall 06, whos that guy that was going to appeal his grade? He was taking down everyones e-mail, he's the one that recieved a C- and was retaking it and ended up with a worse grade. e-mail me [email protected] i wanna go see the dean with you. Grade Received: F
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 It would be very difficult to pass this class because of many things. First of all, he does not curve. Second, his teaches straight out of the book. When I found this out I didn't have the will to go to class, so I had to read the book and learn for myself. Third, his classes are extremely boring and it's hard trying to keep yourself from nodding off into candy-land. Fourth, he is very disorganized when he teaches and write all over the board, so its hard to keep up with him, and if you do somehow keep up, you'll end up having a headache at the end of each class. Fifth... need I say more? Grade Received: F
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 math 106 is basic trigononmetry which i believe a majority of us should have taken in high school, at least i did. i recieved a B then and i hardly showed up for class, but with this guy i never missed a day of class, busted an all-nighter for his midterms and finals, turned in homework and still recieved an F. REasonable? i dont think so. he really needs to go over his teaching styles, what he goes over in class are all the problems given to us in the book, WITH ANSWERS!!! whats the point of him going over them if we can see how its worked out in the book already..how about teaching us something we dont know professor fryer?!!?? Grade Received: F
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 STAY AWAY FROM THIS GUY LIKE THE PLAGUE!! It is such a wonderful feeling to walk into a class and see 3 sometimes 4 chalkboards full of Calculus derivations and notes. This guy just starts lecturing when the time is right, and usually will go over on class time. It's bad enough that there is a lot of stuff on the board but its not very neat and as he is talking about something you are trying to copy down information from board #1. Then he erases it and you are like, I was copying that down. His lectures could be described in many ways I like to define it as lost. It goes from here to there and anywhere else he feels necessary and its all logic and derivations, no helpful examples and sometimes he gets so lost he asks the class," is this right?" His lecture does not help you with the homework at all because he does simple examples and loves to give difficult homework problems. His tests are extremely hard, if there is a small obscure topic that he went over in class, IT WILL BE ON THE TEST!! He does not have the ability to sort out what is important and what is not important within the material. If your taking advanced Calculus classes you are good at math, Cal Poly really went out on a limb with this guy and he is only hurting students. A lousy instructor should not affect students' grades and future.
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 only take him if u have background. If u took elementry calculus (not precalculus) or higher in high school, take him for math 130. if you don't have any back ground don't take him cuz u won't understand anything. Also the book that we used SUCK!!!. It doesn't explain anything. So it is really hard 2 learn from him n from the book. I did ok in his class because i have background.I didn't not learn anything new in his class because everything was review. Even you have background, don't expect that you will get an "A". Nobody got an A. Not even A-. Alough there r ppl who deserve an "A" in my class. If you dont have any background on derivitve u will be lucky to get "C" in that class. DON'T TAKE HIM!!! IF YOU R NOT GOOD AT MATH OR A SLOW LEARNER!!!! but if u r in that class....... GL>>
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 Ya, this guy is really bad. If you don't already have the solutions manual, get it, because your gonna need it to pass this class. He shows up for class a hour early and writes chicken scratch all over the three boards in the room and then tries to explain it to you when you come to class. Several times a student has asked a question about a homework problem, "hmmm, I dont remember assigning that problem, thats a tricky one. It looks like maybe.....hmmm... I dont know...hmm.." or the best reply " am I doing this right, does it look right. Does anybody know." Well heres the simple facts. Its week 9 and I hate this guy. The first midterm I got a B on and Im pretty sure I failed the second one, we'll find out tomorrow. The only reason I took this teacher is because when I registered he was the ONLY 214 teacher left, I had no other choice. He really can't teach and it just makes me want to scream. How the hell am I ever supposed to graduate and remember what I learned when CPP hires fuckin morons for math teachers here. Fuckin asians who cant speak like prof. Fan and hippie ass oakies who look like they came from the woods like Fryer. THIS GUY NEEDS TO STOP IMITATING A MATH TEACHER AND QUIT RUINING PEOPLES ACADEMIC STANDING. POS, WORSTE TEACHER EVER. DAMMMMMNNNNNNNNNN IIIIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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 his way of lecture simply sucks. he basically goes over what was written in the text as a lecture, which makes boring. he never has time to finish what he needs to say and would always rush the materials. you don't even have to go to his lectures since everything he says and every example he does is from the text. the only time you need to go is to turn hw in, take quiz, and take tests. he gives homework on a weekly basis, and there are too many problems to do in a week. sometimes he gives like 25 problems or so and that's alot of problems. the weekly quizes are similar to the homework, in not easier. he does grade hard, taking off lots of points for a little mistake, but his test are easy. if you seriously have to take this guy, do the homework and understand it because his midterms and quizes are much like the homework.
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 his way of lecture simply sucks. he basically goes over what was written in the text as a lecture, which makes boring. he never has time to finish what he needs to say and would always rush the materials. you don't even have to go to his lectures since everything he says and every example he does is from the text. the only time you need to go is to turn hw in, take quiz, and take tests. he gives homework on a weekly basis, and there are too many problems to do in a week. sometimes he gives like 25 problems or so and that's alot of problems. the weekly quizes are similar to the homework, in not easier. he does grade hard, taking off lots of points for a little mistake, but his test are easy. if you seriously have to take this guy, do the homework and understand it because his midterms and quizes are much like the homework.
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 Mr. Fryer was one of the poorer instructors I have had at Cal Poly. The class was a 50 minute class and it always seemed like he was rushing to get through material. But he would incredibly spend what seemed like extra time on unimportant topics. The biggest complaint I have about him was that his examples almost exclusively consisted of the examples in the theory section of the book. I think he was actually a little rusty on the material because he didn't seem very confident explaining many topics. There were some good points in the class. He is very flexible on due date for homeworks, he will ask the class if they want to push back due dates. He always handed out keys for homeworks, quizzes and tests afterwards. And his tests and quizzes were very straightforward, he doesn't try to trick you. I think this was mostly due to him not knowing the material that well. He is boring and will put you to sleep. I don't believe he curved the final grades.

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