What 51 students said
At the end of a course I ask every student to fill in an anonymous survey. What is below is every answer they gave — the raw counts, in full. Nothing is selected and nothing is rounded up: each average is computed from the bars printed underneath it, so you can check it.
Four of the five questions are marks out of ten. The fifth, on pace, is not a mark at all: its scale runs from "too slow" to "too fast", so it describes the tempo rather than scoring it. It carries its own scale below so it cannot be misread as a low mark.
The free-text answers are here in full too, including the one that was not a compliment, and so is the last question — what students thought I should do better — with what I did about it.
The scores
How well prepared was I for the lessons?
How much did you enjoy the lessons?
Did the course meet your expectations?
Did you learn a lot?
How was the pace?
Read the pace card differently. It is not a mark. On that question 1 means the lessons were too slow and 10 means they were too fast, so 5.5 is the middle of the scale — and the number sits above it.
7.3 means the lessons run at a brisk pace, and I am glad it does. The olympiads are hard and the calendar is fixed; there is no version of this where we stroll. A number above the middle says my students are being kept moving, which is most of the job.
What did you like most?
Pick as many as you like — so these add up to more than the number of students.
In their own words
Every free-text answer, spelling tidied and nothing else touched — teenage slang, mixed feelings and all. One of them is a complaint; it is here for the same reason the rest are.
I love our lessons. Your commitment and inventiveness show in every single one, from start to finish : )
The lessons are brilliantly run :D I learned a huge amount about coding in Python and a lot of things finally clicked! :)
Very lively, funny teaching. You had no trouble connecting with us, and plenty of people wanted to speak up and ask things.
Genuinely great lessons — the most interesting of all the groups I have been in. Lots of energy, and that is what matters most :D
I really enjoyed learning in these lessons. The main thing is that you do not drone on — you explain things in a genuinely interesting, enjoyable way.
Thank you for the help preparing for the matura. I do not sit it for another year, but these lessons helped me enormously in working out a study plan and in understanding the material. Kuba, you are a great teacher and it shows that you love what you do :D thanks again!
Thank you for answering my texts whenever I had a problem — complicated or not. You are a mega Sigma.
I really liked the lessons, even though at the start I did not want to join.
Well-run lessons, and we got through a great deal of material in them.
A really pleasant atmosphere, and everything explained properly, in order.
Seriously good lessons! Great atmosphere and we learned a lot.
These were interesting and useful lessons.
Your lessons are the bomb!!!
You are the best coach.
Great lessons and a great teacher <3
Really good lessons — I learned a huge amount, and in a fun way.
Really good lessons :)
You are wonderful <3 (total sigma)
You are Sigma
Chad
I really liked the lessons, apart from one covered by a substitute — the same topics, dully taught, and with the camera off.
What they asked me to fix
The survey's last question is "what should I improve?" — and this is every answer to it, not a selection. Where I have a reply it is underneath; two of these are the reason this platform exists at all, and two I have no answer to yet beyond taking them seriously.
“I would need more pressure on the homework. Obviously how much I do at home is on me, but sometimes I feel like I could skip it and we would go through it in the lesson anyway. And yet I learned the most when I did it myself. Maybe remind us about it more often?”
Kuba Ornatek: This sentence is the reason Ometek Academy exists. An assigned problem stays on the student's list until it is submitted, I can see who has sent what, and a parent can see the activity calendar. The reminding stopped depending on whether I happened to remember.
“I did not learn as much as I wanted because I was seriously lazy this year. Something that pushed you to grind problems would be good, because doing it purely of your own accord is incredibly hard. Last year my school had a leaderboard and that motivated me somehow. Without it I would not have been ready for the first round of the OI.”
Kuba Ornatek: The platform has a full rank ladder, XP and small rewards along the way. Since it launched I have seen exactly the fall in this problem that this student is describing: problems get done more readily, because the position and the progress are both visible.
“Problems that vary more in difficulty.”
Kuba Ornatek: Another reason the platform exists. Sets are assigned per student rather than per group, so two people in the same lesson can be working at completely different levels.
“More frequent mini-contests in the lessons. I would like more solo work, but with the coach there, so I can ask the moment I get stuck.”
Kuba Ornatek: I encourage students to message me between lessons — I usually reply quickly.
“At the start it was a bit too fast.”
“Sometimes I needed to look at the code for about 20 seconds longer, because the problems were beating me even with my questions and you showing the solution.”
And how could I not love this job?