Dr. Mary Shepherd

Classes taught

• Precalculus (17-117)
• College Geometry (17-351)
• Calculus I (17-120)

Style & personality

Dr. Shepherd teaches several different courses in the Math Department, and academy students are often in her Pre-Calculus and Calculus I classes. A self proclaimed "Homework-Nazi," she is one of the few math professors to assign homework for a grade, which she does every lecture period.

The following explanation is what she does for her Pre-Calculus and Calculus classes. Every weekday class period except Friday is a lecture day, and she assigns book work at the end of those lectures. Fridays are the dreaded "Board Work Days." Dr. Shepherd writes the problem numbers up on the board, and then students go up and write out their solutions for that problem. Usually it is only one student per problem. However, sometimes there are a small amount of problems for that week, and then she may switch to two presented solutions per problem. Her boardwork questions are tough, but if you go to her office or email her asking for help, then she WILL help you. There is online homework due every Friday evening as well. It is a lot of work, but if you do the majority of the homework, you should pass her classes easily.

Dr. Shepherd also has a unique way of testing for her Calculus classes. Her tests always have 120 points possible, but she only grades them out of 100 points. So, in essence, you might miss 25 points and still receive an A on that test. That is how difficult her tests are, though. They are often long, and most students don't finish the a question or two. The tests are, however, more like her online homework than the boardwork in difficulty. Different students study in different ways. Some suggestions are to read through every section that will be tested on, and cover up the solutions for the example problems. Attempt all of them, and then you will know what you need to review. Some students also work through the online homework again, and make sure that you have a solution for every book work problem if at all possible. Students with a certain grade before taking the final are allowed to skip out on a final, so doing the homework really pays off.

Dr. Mary Shepherd WANTS her students to succeed. She will do all she can to help you understand the material, but you must ask her for it. She will not usually seek you out unless you are completely failing. To receive an A, you almost always MUST request this help, and go to her office hours or email her requesting an appointment if you cannot make it to any of her posted hours.

Student opinions

William Dotson: Dr. Shepherd is one of the most concerned teachers at Northwest. She will do a lot to make sure you understand things and do well. As was stated above, she assigns a lot of homework. However, you only have to do something around 3/4 of it to get a solid A (she assigns more points of homework than she uses when calculating grades). She also puts extra credit on tests if I remember correctly. If you work the system right, you can skip the final, as is stated above. For example, I went into the final with a 120% in the class. I didn't take the final, which means it went down as a 0%, but because of all the extra credit (and the fact that she doesn't weight finals nearly as much as other teachers) I still got like a 112% in her class.

MoonSoo Choi: A tree/marker killer. Don't stand against her, she might throw all the dead markers at your face.

Jennie: Dr. Shepherd is an AMAZING teacher. I have learned so much in her class. However, it is VERY tough. Be prepared to work hard for what you learn. She never answers a question with an answer; it is always a question. I suggest that everyone go to her office hours...That is REALLY the way to learn. She loves it, too, when students come to visit her. She will be an excellent professor to go to for recommendation letters if you do well in her classes!