Susan Wilkins

School: Calvin College
Department: Education
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Overall Rating
rated by 20 students
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It is hard to talk about her knowledge, teaching ability, and friendliness, because I took an online class. I did not need to contact her for the class, as the assignments and tests were pretty straight forward. I recommend this class online, as there are a lot of terms to learn and taking quizzes and tests online helps a little. Don't think that you don't have to study a little for the midterm and final though, because you only have 100 minutes to answer 100 questions, which does not leave much room for searching through the book for answers. I recommend going through the study guide and marking down the pages where you can find the information needed. A lot of people take the tests and do terrible because they run out of time. I only got an A- because I did not turn in one assignment (my dumb fault). They are 20 points each, so turn in all assignments. Be smart and prepare ahead, and this class will be fairly easy for you. Grade Received: A-
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If you're interested in actually knowing how to make a system without actually feeling like you don't need it, don't take her. About, say, 45% of the time he'll rebel something about the authors of the book and tell you to try it her way. While a few were A-OK, others were just, well, un-understandable (if that's a word). I would go as far as saying you don't need the book; the powerpoints she'll explain are enough to get through to understand the class because that's really how I passed it if you take good notes. BUT to be safe, do get it for maybe SOME sort of reference that you can possibly understand. // She does pop quizzes and some are just unforgivable and most unexpected. Here what you should know if you sadly take her: Expect a quiz about every day (Like Tue-Thurs, MWF, etc) when exams comes around and resort mainly to powerpoints / remember the chapters you just learned. // Her first and second exams were OK; just review what chapters she's gone in class AND how you did your project because that one is a biggie. BUT when Final Exam comes around, you should forget about the book and powerpoints because she'll expect you to REVERSE ENGINEER A BUNCH OF CODE WHICH YOU NEVER LEARNED IN CLASS! // And as for projects, just do your very best; that's all I can say really because if you can just understand how to make it she'll just give you 15 out of 20. // Oh, yeah, she's friendly so if you're confident (unlike me) go to her office hours but don't expect her to help you on your project... WHAT SHE WILL DO is use other examples that relate to the project... just know those examples and you're on your way to asking what you need to know about the project indirectly. Grade Received: C+
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This teacher CANNOT TEACH. She is a worst teacher in CIS department. She cannot answer your question. When she is lecturing, she just reads the power point and sometime says :"I have a problem with this slide." She doesn't prepare her lectures, everytime she reads the powerpoint, she need to think how to say to the class. There are 6 quizzes which are not scheduled, they are suddently during the class. 2 midterm which are half M/C and half solving problems. And 1 final. For the projects, you need to turn in on time, she will count every minute late. All the project i do are bases on my understaing myself. Avoid her at all cost!!!! You will want change major if you take her because she does not help anything with the real world.
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Dr. Wilkins class is VERY challenging. She makes it HARDER than it has to be. If you get through her class, you will graduate with CIS degree GURANTEED. If you thought CIS 304 was hard, you have no idea what you will go through in her class. However, she is VERY knowledgeable and if you do well in her class, you will definatly succed in CIS career. She is very direct and she REMEMBERS any questions you ask in class or in her office hours. Therefore, AVOID asking the same questions. She will blast you for asking the same questions which she answered already. She is not lenient for people who takes the class second time. Therefore, do not think for a second she will have mercy on you. You will LEARN a lot from her class. What you learn in her class, you can use it in REAL world and market yourself very well. Learn as much as you can in this class. This class is very interesting. Dr. Wilkins expects professionalism from each student. She is demanding and treats you actually nicer than your future employer would. Therefore, learn as much as you can from her. She is not one of the professor who doesn't know what subject she is teaching. I RECOMEND her to all students, because you will learn. Afterall, her recomendation and teaching landed me a job at an EXCELLENT employer. Grade Received: C
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Ok Here is the Official Evaluation for Dr. Wilkins for CIS305
She is a strict professor and look for details more than an average professor does. she has 5 projects, 4 quizzez, two midterms, and a final. the first three projects are very doable, the forth and fifth are difficult and takes a lot of time to get done with them.
the midterms are very difficult, you either get a real good grade or you bomb it, a deep understanding of what she says in class is required to get a good grade. she curves the midterms big time. Normalization is a very important subject.
ATTEND EVERY CLASS is highly recommended for this class, she talks for straight two hours and explains a lot of things.
Overall, she's not an easy professor and an effort from the student is really required just to pass that class. Too many people already failed the class once or got out of the CIS major for not passing the course twice in a roll.
Dont worry about how she looks or acts just do the damn work, she has a lot of knowledge in the subject. she can teach but you still have to do things on your own, its a semi-programming class.
Grade Received: B-
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If you are a CIS major, Dr. Wilkins is a definite must for this class. Be advised, you will have to work to get a good grade. She is VERY knowledgeable in the field and you will learn something from her. If you could care less about what you learn, take Freibott. I walked away learning something, after not learning shit from Freibott.
She does not come off very friendly to most people, and thats why she is disliked. I didnt care for her appearance or demeanor in class. Teachers that are overly conserned that people are cheating on a BS quiz dont come off to nice in my book. Consider it a people skills lesson, and get to know her. Im on the BSA track and took the time to see her in her office, and she not only answered my question, but taught me a few other valuable things at the same time.
I recommend her if you are willing to put in an effort and learn something. It will set you apart from others, and you wont have to deal with the others that dont teach this class very well. Grade Received: B
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This class is not a hard class, but Wilkins will make it impossible for you to succeed. When she grades projects and exams, she has the policy of perfect or zero. If it's not exactly what she is looking for you will get a zero for that problem. If you make the same mistake for all you will definitely get an F. It doesn't matter if you get the right answers, it only matters if you do it the way she likes. And don't expect her to EVER show you the way she likes, you will have to figure it out yourself. Also don't EVER expect her to put comments on your projects. You will never know what you did wrong or how to fix it next time. Also if your margins, spaces, or tabs are not 100% perfect, expect a bad grade. She expects everyone's projects to be exactly formatted and done the same way. I learned a lot about database design and SQL in this class. If I had taken this class with anyone else I am sure I would have gotten an A, but with Wilkins I got a C. It is possible for someone to be an expert on this topic and still never get an A with Wilkins. You may learn a lot with Wilkins (it's not a hard topic), but if you like getting good grades pick someone else.
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Wilkins is probably the worst CIS professor I have had. First of all she shows up about 10-15 minutes late every single day, without exception. Secondly, the way she grades projects is unacceptable. When you get back your project it's extremely hard to figure which parts are wrong and why. She will never go over an assignment, nor will she put helpful comments on them. This style of grading makes it impossible for a student to improve. She also will take lots of points off for the smallest of errors (ex. Formatting). If you have an error in your model you will get points off for that model and a zero for every problem that uses that model. I had an error in my model that did not have enough decimals (my only error in the entire project) and I was given a C, because the data was used in several problems. I read these reviews about Wilkins before I took her. I assumed that the students where just complaining. I decided to take Wilkins for a challenge. It was the huge mistake. AVOID WILKINS AT ALL COSTS.
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I really enjoyed this class. I retook this class with her and enjoyed her teaching style. Although she's a bit dry when it comes to personallity or friendliness, I was able to see her during office hours if I didn't understand something, and I felt generally her teaching was straight to the point. You just have to be really understanding of her to get past her confrontational front, because she's really not that bad of a person. *If you're a cheater, don't take her class because she's quick to drop you and fail you with no questions asked! If you're a fair person who wants to learn, turns in assignments ontime and doesn't fall asleep 'every' class period (twice may be understandable, lol), you should be okay with her.
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Despite what a lot of other people have said, she does not suck. In fact, she is a very knoweldeable professor & you do not need to buy the textbook for her class - all you need are her lecture notes (save $80 bucks!!). In fact, I got an A in the class without ever cracking open the book. It's true, she will not tell you the answers for the homework, she will however give you hints to guide you toward the solution. Go to her office hours, she will be more than happy to clarify concepts or lecture notes for u.
TIPS: 1) get a copy of the exams from the previous quarters, the questions will be very very very similar. 2) Go to her office hours, & pick her brains.. she's very knowledgeable so sometimes in class that knowledge just goes way over your head, so go to her office hour & talk it out. By verbalizing your mind will assimilate & comprehend the material. 3) Take good notes in class 4) (Should u get erros in SQL later on) remember for selections: GROUP BY uses HAVING, not WHERE (lol got me stuck for hours)
*the above tips should be applicable for all your CIS classes. GOOD LUCK! P.S. form study groups (/w all the girls of course)!!!
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One word.....ANAL. This teacher wont accept anything thats not done EXACTLY how she wants it. She is so narrow minded about the concepts of the class that most of the time she couldnt answer the questions some students had because she couldnt possibly think any other way besides HER way. She doesnt even fully understand the software needed to run in the class. But besides how anal she is....the class consisted of 2 tests and 5 projects. The tests werent that bad if u knew the stuff she goes over in class. The projects however, can be pretty killer. The first 2 and the 5th projects were pretty easy, should only take u like 30 min to an hour to do a peice. The third project takes about 6-8 hours IF u understand how to do everything already. BUT the 4th project....u better hope u have nothing else to do for those 2 weeks. Litterally about 35-40 hours for that project. It sucked. U really dont need the book in her class since she goes over everything ull need to know for the tests in class and the SQL stuff for the projects is all in a packet that u have to get from the copy center.
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Professor Wilkins has a really bad rep. From reading the comments on this board before I was prepared for the worst but she was one of my best teachers this year. If you take her class be prepared to study and pay attention. I mean come on some guys slept in her class and so they did bad duh. Projects were plenty but they were not impossible. 5 projects in the class. Professor Wilkins will answer questions that will help lead to the answer but won't give it. Make sure you go to every class session and take good notes! Her tests are mainly from her lectures. She also added some points to the midterms to help curve it. Not sure what my grade is yet but pretty sure its a B+ or A depending on the final. Its funny how bad of a rep she has cuz everyone always adds Preisers class first. I will definitely take Wilkins again for other classes because I learned much from her class.
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Dr. Wilkins is actually a very nice and professional teacher. She is not a b* like the other people have claimed. I saw her during her office hours a lot when I had questions. She was very helpful. She won't give you the answers right away, but she will lead you to it. For the exams, the questions came mostly from her lectures. Study them well. Memorize the rules. I never really studied too hard for her exams, but I did okay. Her exams have some easy and hard questions both. She grades very leniently, so even if you don't know the material, just write what you know and you will get partial credit. She was very generous with the curve for exams. Also, make sure you can get all the points for the first three projects. The fourth project is the hardest so start as early as possible. I emailed her almost ten times asking her about the individual questions for SQL for project 4. She replied all 10 times. She is tough, but you will definitely learn a lot in this class. This class isn't as difficult as CIS 304. She is very fair. To be honest, she is like any other teacher. She is no pushover and expects a lot from her students. She will tell you to start your projects early. Listen to her. I would not mind taking Wilkins again for another CIS class. The students that gave Dr. Wilkins bad reviews probably didn't do very well in her class. If you are an A/B student, this class is manageable! By the way, I got an A-. Anyhow, good luck! :)
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Do not take this person or you may regret it. She lectures for at least 2 full hours with no breaks. If not for the next class wanting to use the room, she probably would continue longer. Her lecture strategy is to complicate and confuse items in the text and to add more where she thinks the text is too easy. There are two midterms and a final all which tend to be hard. She is a very hard grader and will take off points for things that normal human beings would consider irrelevant. If you staple the projects in the wrong place or use a font she does not like, its points off. There are 5 projects. The first three are reasonable. The last two are real hard. The high score, in my class, on the 4th project was 17/30. Even if you manage to get the SQL answer right, she may deduct points for less than perfect indentation or she may claim that you did not answer the question right since she had something else in mind. Wilkins claims that she is helping the students by giving them bad grades. Duh? Those students who have said that she is a good teacher must have exceeding low standards. A good teacher can make a difficult class seem easy. Wilkins makes an average class seem difficult. When I asked for help, she only gave vague answers or some snide remark such as 'you have more thinking to do'. Not good in my book. She is a mean spirited person who really hates students and really deserves the title 'Satan's Daughter'. There is nothing to gain by taking her. I have never encountered such a totally rottenperson in all my life.
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What can I possibly add to this avalanche of hate messages? Yes, she hates people, and apparently hates teaching. She sucks as it too, her lectures are ill-planned and she appears to be winging it most of the time, and poorly at that. Her knowledge of the subject is adequate, but her presentation is very bad. She seems to have serious trouble with the English language; in lectures she frequently just gives up before finishing sentences, and in projects and tests her problems frequently make no logical sense. But don't dare to ask a question in class, she will give an exasperated sigh, or get frustrated at you, or something else to try and make you feel stupid. But usually she is the one being stupid, completely misunderstanding your question. Sometimes everyone in the room would understand but her, and all the students would take turns re-asking the same question different ways until her slow brain finally figured it out. She is a bitch when it comes to grading too; taking off points for the most trivial and un-important things that no one in the real world would ever care about. In answer to those who think that only people who flunked the class hate her, I got an A...but I knew SQL already. This is a pure unbiased review; she sucks. For your own sake, try and get and someone else, as you will be lucky to pass this class with Miss Satan-spawn.
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Beware of professors who say that they are giving you a bad grade in order that you may learn a life lesson. This type of thinking usually comes from a PhD who has never held a real job. Also, I deeply suspect comments allegedly from students that claim that they are grateful to Wilkins for failing them and thus providing the life lesson. I don't know about you, but I do not need that kind of lesson. I have never met a student who was happy to fail. If you were caught cheating at Cal Poly Pomona, you would be expelled. Wilkins routinely cheats students by marking correct answers wrong. I believe that this academic dishonesty is just cause for dismissal. Wilkins needs to leave! Until she is gone, you will save yourself some grief by avoiding her classes unless you like to take subjects twice or you know some way to defeat her unjust grading system. Beware!.
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Fuck this bitch!!!!!Do not listen to the fuckers that passed the course previously........they are lieing.......if you want to suffer take her, she is a fucking picky ass bitch.......put it this way she says she passes everone without an F right, but check it out she gave 80% of her students last quarter C-'s meaning that you might as well get a fucking F, there is no difference in CIS core classes between a C- and an F you are still going to fail and have to retake. This one guy got docked 10pts for placeing a due date july/1 instead of july/2. also this other guy got docked 4 points for wasting paper, and he really didnt waste any paper, meaning the project was 15 pages long and he had spaced it so it would be a bit neater. he got chummped.....so as an advice to you that want a challege and a unsatisfactory grade take her you would die...........
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I took Dr. Wilkins CIS 305 class for Fall 2000, which she said was easier because we had 2 cancelled classes; therefore we skipped a chpater. Anyway, if u go to her web site u will c that there are two midterms, a final, and five projects. The first project is a no-brainer, the second project is hard--it is like a CIS 235 project, the third proj. quite easy, 4th proj is the harderst of all cos has tricky SQL questions, the 5th proj. we make up our own sql problems. Her midterms are curved a bit; they are somwewhat hard in difficulty. The final is cumulative; all her tests are based mainly on the lecture and are mainly problem solving or short answer. She is not a bad person like the previous reviews portrays her; in fact, I find her quite nice as she encourages us to come her office hours. I got an A in the class.
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SHES NOT THAT BAD! - Okay, I cannot argue the fact that she is a bitch - she hates people and yes, she very well could be a descendant of Satan. But she IS a good teacher. Her class is challenging but very understandable. She taught the class well - she even spent the first week making sure we learned the software first so we could save ourselves the headache of trying to figure out software and SQL at the same time. She knew ErWin and Sybase very well. If you go into her office and ask her to look at your project, she will not 'pre-grade.' she will answer specific questions only. she will mark of points if you are late to class when a project is due. work ahead - she wont make you take the final if you are happy with your grade. the projects arent too hard - just time consuming. she is well spoken but boring, you will know what you need to know when you are done. also, this is coming from someone who failed her class (because i never did the work at all and was always late). GOOD teacher, but man is she a cunt.
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She is a real BITCH! Her first 2 projects are easy but the last 3 are hard as hell. She expects the student to be like PRO on her analysis field, duh! Her midterms are alright but she grades REALLY hard. For the second midterm, she graded me wrong and I went up to complain. You know what the BITCH said? She said that there is nothing she can do about it 'cuz it's already graded. What a bitch she is! Anyway, she even said that it looked wrong when she graded it. I was really pissed 'cuz I had point off for the right answer. My advice: she is really boring, her lecture is freaking long, she is extremely hard on grading, and the most part of all SHE WILL NEVER ANSWER YOUR QUESTION ON THE PROJECT, NEVER HELP. I wonder why they still keep her in this cis dept. What a pathetic Bitch like her.

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