&quot;The midterms don&#x27;t count if you don&#x27;t want them to, which means 100% of your grade can be the final.&quot; And that&#x27;s your choice. How is it his fault for giving you a choice?<p>&quot;Most of it is literally just memorizing a proof.&quot; Proofs are more important than memorizing a formula and forgetting it after a couple of month.<p>&quot;Convinced me to be a math major by inciting my passion for math.&quot; That&#x27;s way more important than stuffing you with formulas, algorithms and problems. If you have a passion for something, learning comes more easily and naturally.<p>By giving you confidence and passion, he gave you the greatest gift he could possibly give. You can find theorems, proofs, problems and solutions in countless books. The information is there, all of it. Structured in many different ways. And he gave you the courage to go out and explore.  I wish I had that as a freshman. Instead I got fear. Fear of failing. Fear of being mocked in class. Fear of not being good enough. And I cowered in fear. I learned mechanically, memorizing formulas and problems by heart. What good where the quizzes, hard exams and midterms to me when I couldn&#x27;t understand and apply what I was supposed to be learning?