Pablo was not the greatest at teaching at the beginning. He made mistakes on the board that caused me to be confused. I ended up just using Youtube to learn since he doesn't ask too many tedious questions on exams, and all of them are some form of question straight from the book. The homework is pretty short, and there's a solutions manual floating out there. The discussion worksheets is just a matter of going to your discussion and copying whatever the TA writes because they are way harder than what is on the exam.

All of his stuff is on his github page at pabloocal.github.io, so you can preview the course from previous quarters. Alternatively, you can look up his github repository where you can dig through files.

Pretty nice and easy class.
Final was a bit tougher than midterms n homework

I had Pablo for Math 31B, which I confess was a difficult course with him. However, since I took him the last time, I'm not sure if it's because he prefers linear algebra over calculus or if he's absorbed all of the reviews he's gotten, but man has he improved significantly. I can now confirm that he is in fact a brilliant professor!

Every homework (and exam) problem was manageable and accurately represented what he lectured on. He did not assign any tedious homework and, in fact, made part of it optional through ”recommended exercises.” Not to mention that some of our exam problems were similar, if not identical, to those from homework and discussion.

He is not out to trick you or anything. He’s easily accessible and if you need help, don’t be afraid to go to OH! He’s super friendly. Thanks for a great quarter Pablo!

Pablo has like 1 star averages for other classes, so I was scared going into Linear Algebra as a non-Engineering/Math major (I need it for my minor). However, I would say it was a pleasant experience.

Pros
- He has 3 grading schemes (first one factors in everything, second one drops one midterm, third one drops both midterms in favor for the final being a bigger percentage of the grade).
- Homework workload was fair - I would finish in 1-2 hours
- Homework and discussion are free points - you just need to show up to discussion
- He drops low homework assignments and discussions (I think if the class average completion for his surveys after each midterm is like >80%, he drops an additional assignment)
- Exams are fair and are similar to textbook problems. I recommend studying the different homework problems and trying to find similar textbook problems to the practice exams he posts (try to find similarly formatted problems too)
- When some lectures were pre-recorded, I actually found them to be super clear and organized. He has neater handwriting on his tablet.
- Some lectures are review sessions. He literally went over 2-3 problems during the final review session that appeared on the final

Cons
- Sometimes lectures can feel unclear if you sit in the back. I stopped showing up to lecture to rewatch Bruincast because the camera actually zooms in on the Chalkboard where he's writing out the math (he doesn't have slides, but he does post notes)
- Discussion worksheets didn't seem that helpful for exams/homework. However, I appreciate how my TA went over general concepts.

Overall, Pablo is pretty good - I think he's more interested in the field of linear algebra, so it makes sense that he's better at teaching 33A. He also cycles through like 10 different variations of flannel, a math t-shirt, and jeans.

This is not a class for the weak. Professor Ocal does not deserve all the hate for this, though. The class is genuinely difficult, especially for students with little to no calculus background. You can tell the professor tries to convey the inherently hard concepts in an understandable way, but he sometimes falls short of ensuring 100% comprehension. The lectures are fast-paced and topical, but this was necessary to make sure we made it through the course on time. Grouped in with lectures are review sessions before exams, and these were really helpful. The professor did problems that mirrored the format of the midterm/final on the blackboard and encouraged student participation to work them out step-by-step. More often than not, very similar questions were on the exam itself. The grading scheme is an absolute godsend. I did pretty awful on my first midterm, but was saved by the scheme which takes the best of two midterm scores. After each exam it was always, "well there's always midterm 2 / the final" because the grading scheme can be so generous in not counting bad scores. Many people complain that Ocal "just teaches from the book" and admittedly, he does, but I don't see a problem with that. Outlined in the homework problems for each week are "optional" reading assignments that are truly beneficial to actually read. I think people would better understand Ocal's logic and style and do better in the class if they treated the textbook like a very helpful supplement to the lectures rather than an optional reading assignment that was paid no attention to. All of this is to say, I would recommend this class with Dr. Ocal if you are willing to put in the effort to succeed.

Super light workload, easy tests, lectures were informative + engaging and posted online. Knows his material.

After hearing things about Pablo, I took the route of just self studying off the textbook. I feel like this is a fairly easy class to self study because there's just one or two things to know from every lesson. All I did to study was spam the problems Pablo recommended to do from the textbook and make sure I did them correctly by checking my answers on Quizlet (there's a Quizlet with all the answers). I didn't go to a single lecture, discussion, or OH. I would say that the midterms were fair and I did really well on both. However, Pablo decided to throw in the hardest integrals and limit comparison test I've ever seen on the final so I got an 80 on it, but the grading scheme saved my grade. If you're confident in your self study skills, take this class. If not, go with another professor.

I was scared going into this class given all the negative reviews but honestly if I had to take it with him again I would. He's very funny and always asks if there are any questions. If he doesn't finish the material in class he will upload onto zoom as a recording, although they might go over the normal hour. His tests are good as long as you study with the additional homework problems. I do strongly reccomend memorizing the hyperbolic table he goes over as the final is strongly hyperbolic trig. Overall he has a very lenient grading scheme. I am a person who struggles with math and this class made me like math again.