Jinsong Zhang

Prof. Zhang clearly tries his best to teach but the overall course policies need to be restructured. Grading criteria are unclear, midterm exam worth 30% has very little opportunity for partial credit, and instructions for the final project are very vague and easy to lose points.

5/11/2026

You learn a lot of things in the class, but the exam ends up being based on whatever topic he decides to focus on. There is no clear rubric at all, and the grading expectations feel very unclear.

5/10/2026

Numerical calculation matters the most. I'm pretty sure he'll give full credits even without any step by step solution as long as you get the "correct final answer". He doesn't give credits for understanding i.e. set up equations the correct way but make calculation mistake? -30 points.

4/17/2026

Punitive grader and very unforgiving of any mistakes. Small mistakes can cost 20–30 points and late policies are heavily penalised. Because assignments with penalties can't be dropped, missing even one can significantly impact your final grade.

4/15/2026

The midterm carries a very heavy weight but contains very few questions, meaning that making a mistake on a single problem can destroy your final grade. The final project's grading is based completely on the professor's personal preferences rather than any clear or transparent criteria. Expect attendance right before/after breaks or final class.

1/21/2026

I wish the professor can read the comments about him and make some changes. I respect his passion in the subject, but the class has been a disaster to take. Consider carefully before enrolling.

5/10/2025

He is very knowledgable about the topics however, he extremely unorganized and does not stick with the syllabus. It is very difficult to keep up with the quizzes and the quizzes are weighted heavily.

5/8/2025

As others have said, the slides are amazing. If you put in the time to review the slides and re-solve the example problems before tests, you'll be fine. Beware that he's a stickler about notation--it is very easy to lose points (they add up) over a missed carat or non-standard variable name. Don't miss the attendance quizzes and you'll be fine.

5/8/2025

very unclear and harsh grader, will take points off for many things & is condescending irl. both midterm averages were 70 (worth 30% total) and he doesn't curve. doesnt provide opportunities to increase your grade. boring lecturer (just use the slides, which are kinda confusing but better than lecture). just avoid this class....diffeq was easier!!!

5/5/2025

This is the WORST Professor at Wash U. Take 328, never take this guys class. He is not understanding, lectures are very slow and has made the semester for me so much worse.

5/2/2025

Not as bad as people say. May be a little condescending, office hours are questionable at times. Always tries to show up excited, genuinely interested in the material. Lectures get a bit boring towards the end of the semester, also review the material outside of class. HW's are on the easier side, exams are tough. Good luck!

4/8/2025

Awful professor. Run!!!!!

4/1/2025

I hate this man. Never take a class with him. I went to office hours once to ask him a question and he laughed at me and said my question was common knowledge. Everything he says is on the slides so it's not like you even need to go to class except for the pop attendance quizzes. Only one midterm and the average was 70 (and he doesn't curve).

1/10/2025

Cannot articulate crucial conceptual points across and is the worst teacher at WashU. he claims to follow his syllabus yet refused to drop my lowest homework which he clearly stated in the syllabus

12/26/2024

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!!

12/23/2024

The previous exam and quiz were both okay, but the final project score for the group was very unclear and heavily compressed. Our group completed the task according to the description provided, but still deducted a lot of points in the end, and he didn't have a chance to argue with you. Don't come to his class!!!

12/22/2024

Professor Zhang clearly tries his best and always teaches with a smile on his face, but lectures are very monotonous and it's very easy to get completely lost. On the bright side, his slides are very helpful and he's fairly responsive on Piazza. The course content itself is very theoretical and proof-heavy.

12/10/2024

6-8 hrs/week

Professor Zhang clearly tries his best and always teaches with a smile on his face, but lectures are very monotonous and it's very easy to get completely lost. On the bright side, his slides are very helpful and he's fairly responsive on Piazza. The course content itself is very theoretical and proof-heavy, and it's really easy to lose points on quizzes for small things so make sure you show every small step of your work.

12/9/2024

I recommend taking CSE 417 rather than Zhang's ESE 417. Zhang gives droll, useless lectures. He gives frequent in-class quizzes that are graded strictly, he does not tolerate notation that does not match his own. Additionally, he times attendance checks just before breaks to ensure students can't go home early. He is an unkind, unhelpful teacher.

11/7/2024

Only one thing: run away from this professor!

10/31/2024

Terrible lecturer and an extremely harsh grader. Will take 10 points off your quiz for a single notation.

10/29/2024

Terrible lecturer who does a horrible job at explaining concepts. Extremely harsh grader who will take points off based on grading criteria that were never specified.

10/15/2024

I can tell he really tried at the beginning, and it turned out that the first few lectures were great. Then he ended up literally reading off the slides.

9/12/2024

He just reads off slides. Is a tough grader, and really feels like he puts no effort into teaching at all. I have never been more bored in a class then his stats class and I learned absolutely nothing I feel like.

8/29/2024

So many unanswered Piazza posts. He put in some effort and tried to explain the concepts but just ended up reading from the slides. Open book/notes for quizzes and exams and you can get most answers from following the slides examples.

7/1/2024

2-4 hrs/week

Don't take this class with Zhang; take it with whoever else is teaching it. The class isn't a lot of work, but the lectures are pretty bad and the exams are actually pretty hard. Our final exam would have been a ~70 average if he didn't move it online because he forgot to reserve a room...

5/24/2024

Dr Zhang is a strict grader and all of his quizzes don't have any reference to what is taught in his class. His lectures can get boring because he reads off of the lecture slides.

5/18/2024

Seldom answer students questions on piazza Tough grader on quiz

5/15/2024

He simply doesn't care about his students. He rarely answers Piazza questions and assignment instructions are vague. TAs also aren't helpful. Programming sessions are useless.

5/14/2024

Seldom answer the students' questions on piazza. Give the marks according on his mood and distribution line. A liitle bit of stubborn on his teaching level. In summary, do not choose him except no choices.

5/12/2024

Dude is a terrible teacher.

5/1/2024

He is a decent lecturer, but it sometimes can be hard to understand what he is saying. His slides are amazing and are sometimes better at teaching than him. Assignments are graded very generously and all exams are open notes. I left this class learning a lot, but I recommend starting the homework earlier because they take time.

4/25/2024

Prof. Zhang needs to work on two things. 1) Fixing his lecture slides so that they are readable and let alone understandable. You spend most of your time in class trying to decipher the information on slides rather than learning any ideas and connecting them. 2) Figuring out more relevant ways to test us on machine learning concepts.

4/23/2024

Prof. Zhang needs to work on two things. \n1) Fixing his lecture slides so that they are readable and let alone understandable. You spend most of your time in class trying to decipher the information on slides rather than learning any ideas and connecting them. \n2) Figuring out more relevant ways to test us on machine learning concepts.

4/23/2024

Lectures left much to be desired as he read off slides, and if the projector died, he wouldn't fix it. Little to no examples were provided during the lectures, making the quizzes and homework challenging. There were sparse guidelines for the final project but a lot of expectations for style, content, etc.

12/19/2023

Overall, a good professor. Concepts are illustrated clearly in the lecture slides.

5/16/2022

Simply reads off of the slides. Gives very vague answers to piazza posts. Once class was over, he sent a random email at 9 am in the morning stating that you need to send in a proof that you completed course evaluations now as he is entering the grades, rather than giving students more time to send the proof. I saw the email only 2 hours late.

5/12/2022

I regret taking this class. He just doesn't know how to teach this. Running late on course content, pop quiz worth 30% of grade, exam before HW answer and right after class), the average for the final was around 75, but he does not do anything about it. I recommend taking 3200 or section 02.

12/28/2021

Jinsong Zhang is not only a bad teacher but is also incredibly not nice. His lecture notes are incredibly opaque, and his notation is often awful and inconsistent. It would be ok if he was willing to be more helpful out of class, but instead he is rude and unhelpful. I spent most of my time learning from other sources online. What a waste of time.

10/27/2021

The midterm was really bad... half of the material in the test was covered during the prior class, leaving us minimal time to do the homework for practice, prepare the cheat sheet, and review all the material. Only four multiple-part question on the test. If one does not know how to do the first part, one is screwed for the question...

10/23/2021

Great professor. His powerpoint lectures are well organized and he breaks down machine learning topics in a clear and understandable way. There is not an overwhelming amount of homework, and the TA support was very helpful. The grading was fair. The coding sessions are useless, though.

1/13/2021

1. Does not permit the use of laptops in class. Totally a technophobe :( 2. Doesn't provide cheat sheet in exams. Wants you to make your own :( 3. Good Person tho. Lets you turn in hw late :)

11/6/2019

Idk how he is in Prob Stats, but Signals and Systems with Zhang is... bad. When I told an upperclassman engineering student who was teaching this class, he reacted with surprise and a small amount of horror. - restrictive tech policy (no laptops for notes) - disorganized lecture - textbook is more comprehensive than lecture - not easy to talk to

10/31/2019

My goodness, I'm going to be honest here. Calling this class probstats is a lie. He teaches everything (including statistics) using probability, meaning that you leave the class slightly more useless than when you started. Also, don't expect to rely on any intuition that you might have gained in a high school stats class. Very, very theoretical.

12/5/2018

Though he has minor accent, his class is very well prepared and organized, and he tries to make student engeged. The homework and small tests are a lot, but they do focus on lecture materials and you'll be fine if you listen to the lecture carefully. I will recommend this professor.

5/7/2018

Pretty average professor, provides decent lectures but is pretty soft spoken. The PowerPoint slides are pretty succinct. Homework is pretty long and graded harshly. The exams were reasonable but not easy. Just keep up with the work and dont slack off. He likes quizzes.

2/12/2018

Zhang is a good professor overall. His slides are organized and you can find everything from the slides. He gives lots of proofswhich is also part of the tests and exams. Slides is the success to this class! Homework problems are long, but they really ensure you to understand the material. You can do well if you really spend time on it.

1/16/2018

Zhang knows his stuff pretty well, and his lecture PowerPoint slides are not bad. He synthesizes the textbook pretty well and is usually available for office hours. The homework grader is pretty picky, so do the homework carefully over the weekend. Keep up and study, lots of quizzes! You can get an A if you really work for it.

11/9/2017

Zhang is a very organized professor, and if you are able to understand his slides and examples you will be ok with the class. He does assign long weekly homework assignments, but doing these really ensures you understand and are learning the material. Cares for students and will make an effort to help you if you ask.

3/27/2017

The worst prof I had in college. Lectures are extremely hard to understand- his English is terrible which makes it hard for him to explain stuff clearly. Slides are just a copy of definitions/examples from textbook. He takes attendance so a lot of students just show up and sit in the last row. Tough grader, doesn't give curve. 8 exams in total.

1/22/2017

Lectures are very organized and clear, although can be boring at times. Prof. Zhang does give a lot of homework and has a lot of tests throughout the semester to make sure you are keeping up.

12/8/2016

Excellent person who really cares for his students. Lectures can be very long and boring, but his in-class examples are important to pay attention to since they are very similar to the homework problems and tests.

4/14/2016

The class material itself is boring and he makes it way worse by not able to explain things well. The homework is very tedious and can be really long. Tests are easy enough if you understand the material well, which a lot of people find hard with him teaching.

2/24/2016

Zhang makes the lecture so boring it is a pain to sit through the class. Worst part is he can't really explain things well and this is very bad for a math class with a lot of understanding involved. The weekly homework can be very challenging to do. He also gave an exceptionally hard final to separate the grades among students.

2/24/2016