Charles Ouyang
3 courses · 33 reviews
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I had Ouyang last spring for real analysis and I loved him. He is very good at explaining things and cares about his students. The class is hard but he makes sure you walk away with a good grade.
12/15/2025
I feel like Ouyang does really deserve all the hate he gets from his rating. It might be from more difficult classes, but at least for Calc 2 he's really not that bad. The only bad thing I see in him is that he tends to explain unnecessary "wrong ways" to do things and also gets stuck for a few minutes when he makes a mistake or is trying to think.
10/17/2025
10+ hrs/week
Super hard, but very rewarding. The first proof base class I took after 310. It is very achievable to get a good grade, but definitely takes time. Highly recommend. \n\nOuyang was solid. He gets too much criticism.
9/25/2025
Exam was not as hard as I expected. But he is a really bad lecturer. Do not take his class!
9/5/2025
(4111 - Analysis) Ouyang was somehow more difficult than his reputation. At first, I thought he genuinely did not care that our problem sets felt punitive rather than constructive, but I realized after the first exam that he just completely doesn't understand the level that his students are at.
8/25/2025
*this rating is for math 4111 intro to analysis but that wasnt selectable. He isn't a bad lecturer, but he sets an incredibly high standard. Yes, this is a famously hard course, but the questions on his exams are very difficult and in high quantities for the given time frames. I never had time to check my work, I couldve spent 4hrs on his 2hr final
5/14/2025
I'm actually taking the Math 4111 Introduction to Analysis with him. He clearly explained all the concepts and theorems with very interesting examples.The lectures are great. You can easily catch up without feeling bored. The homework are average difficulty with plenty of time to do. The exams are super easy with lot of extra credit. Easy A class.
5/5/2025
This professor grades everything, including exam extremely strict and would deduce points for minor issues. He cannot explain contents clearly and attending lecture and understanding all assigned material is not sufficient for optimal grade.
2/7/2025
Made the class unnecessarily difficult and wasn't very supportive
12/25/2024
If you have the opportunity to take matrix algebra with another professor, do it. It's is not a hard subject, but he's a terrible teacher that makes the concepts seem unnecessarily hard. He's very condescending and talks down on students. Also, he doesn't keep his canvas updated so you don't know how you're doing in class until it's too late.
12/24/2024
Perhaps the WORST teacher I've EVER had. Assumed students were already familiar with the course material and seemed offended when anyone asked for clarification during class. Exam problems were unlike any encountered before. Homeworks were rarely graded before the exams and no practice material was given. DO NOT TAKE.
12/24/2024
This dude expected us to be experts at Matrix Algebra and would put questions we've never seen before on exams. I definitely learned a lot in this class, but my grade doesn't reflect it at all because of the difficulty of his tests. He doesn't give practice exams and doesn't grade homework before the exams. This was my lowest grade in a class ever.
12/23/2024
I would not wish taking his class for credit on my worst enemy
12/23/2024
In Ouyang's class, it was extremely frustrating that he didn't provide practice exams for midterms or the final, especially since they make up 75% of our grade. In addition, the exams had questions that were extremely different from the ones in our textbook. Taking Ouyang's class was very discouraging, I would not recommend 309 with him to anyone.
12/22/2024
Ouyang has been the most disappointing instructor I've encountered. He does not use Canvas, provides no practice exams or study guides, and ignores homework and any Piazza questions. This lack of effort and disregard for student success creates a frustrating and unproductive learning environment. Shame.
12/22/2024
This guy is a complete joke. He needs to learn how to take criticism as a way to improve as a teacher instead of a personal attack on his character. Clearly his ego is too big to understand that his students could have benefited from more practice material leading up to exams. I ended up doing fine in the class, but as a professor he was just rude.
12/20/2024
Unbelievable. Tried to ask a clarifying question in lecture once, and he proceeded to essentially berate me to the class for not knowing something. The final exam was 9 questions and 2 of them felt related to anything we've done in class. Genuinely out to get you as a student and is flat out rude
12/18/2024
DON'T TAKE! Lectures were confusing and always felt like he was rushing to get through material. Very exam heavy yet he refused to provide practice exams/study guides and the questions on exams were nothing like homework or in-class problems. He's arrogant and would rather blame poor performance on his students than reconsider his teaching methods.
12/17/2024
Ouyang explains matrix the way someone might explain nuclear physics to a rock - assuming it already knows everything and just forgot for a moment. His teaching style is like trying to read a book written in invisible ink while it's being hurled at your face. Questions on exam make sense only if you exist in a universe where 2 + 2 equals pain.
12/17/2024
Charles Ouyang is by far the worst teacher I have ever had in my life. He does not care about his students one little bit and is outright disrespectful. On top of that, he is a horrible grader and refuses to give any sort of reasonable partial credit. DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS.
12/17/2024
Although the content in Matrix itself is not extremely difficult to grasp, Professor Ouyang does an extremely poor job at preparing and assessing students fairly in this class. When met with constructive criticism from an alarming majority of students, he instead placed the blame on us for being "unprepared" rather than changing his methods.
12/16/2024
I think Prof. Ouyang is a good lecturer. The way he explains the concepts seems very clear to me. That being said he doesn't want to be running the class. He seems like he thinks he going against the students and provides little resources before exams. I think he would be better of in a smaller class with students who are math majors
12/16/2024
Math 309: Imagine you've never had a brownie. Lectures are like a brownie recipe---lists of theorems and definitions. Tests ask you: How does the brownie taste? But you never even baked the brownie. Matrix is highly geometric and Ouyang's lectures failed to connect theorems/definitions to their geometric meanings, making it difficult to succeed.
12/14/2024
This professor is half the reason I'm transferring out. He's all over the place and doesn't have the written homework graded before exams, but still expects students to be able to know how to do the work correctly. The lack of feedback combined with his poor lecturing ability makes this class exponentially more difficult than it should be.
11/21/2024
Do not take 309 with Ouyang. The exams are weighted so much. There are no practice exams or feedback on homework before exams. He does not know how to teach or engage with students. When students try to give feedback on his teaching, he gets defensive and just blames the students for not knowing the material and implies it is our fault.
11/15/2024
Ouyang's 309 class is very test heavy. His tests are made up of 5 questions, each question worth 20% of the entire grade, yet make some questions unreasonably hard. He provides no practice exams and asks students to study test based on homework and textbook questions. However, the graders for the homework couldn't provide useful feedback on time.
11/14/2024
I am speechless. I took Linear Algebra with him, where he showcased his inability to integrate material and answer questions. He loves to hear himself talk, not teach. In Matrix Algebra onNov, 12 2024, Dr. Ouyang ranted for over a half hour about the students' inabilities to "do math", stressing his lectures/lecture style was not the problem. AVOID
11/13/2024
Prof. Ouyang had no practice tests for any exams in a class where 65% of your grade is an exam. He said to study with homework Qs but included questions that aren't like HW. There are no drops on exams and no late submissions on homework. The exams are 4-5 questions long but weigh so heavily on your grade. I don't recommend this teacher for matrix.
11/6/2024
Tough grader for the first half of the semester. Then found out nobody was getting an A. The second and third exams were easier and the final grades were fair. Lectures were easy to follow, and he would repeat/clarify ideas if asked.
1/14/2024
Tough grader for the first half of the semester. Then found out nobody was getting an A. The second and third exams were easier and the final grades were fair.\n\nLectures were easy to follow, and he would repeat/clarify ideas if asked.
1/14/2024
He certainly has room for improvement as a newly hired AP, and he is quite strict about the completeness of proofs, but this class was really not that bad. He offered a lot of EC to make up for the low midterm avgs and never tested on the hardest concepts. I only got ~70 on the first midterm but really improved over the semester and got an A+.
12/24/2023
Worst professor I have had at WashU. He gives absolutely no partial credit and he rarely answers questions on Piazza. His announcements are rude and his grading is horrendous. Avoid him at all costs.
11/27/2023