MATH 31A
Differential and Integral Calculus
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Preparation: at least three and one half years of high school mathematics (including some coordinate geometry and trigonometry). Requisite: successful completion of Mathematics Diagnostic Test or course 1 with grade of C- or better. Differential calculus and applications; introduction to integration. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - A lot of people have been flaming Prof. Chapouto and honestly after my first midterm grade, I probably would've agreed with everything here. But I don't anymore. The one thing that's special about this professor, that I haven't seen with many lower-div profs, is that she cares about her students — and when there's 200+ of them, that's incredibly hard to do but important. She's super approachable and committed to helping us out, not just in her office hours but beyond that. I literally couldn't submit FOUR WEEKS worth of homework in my classes, and when no other professor would care to even listen to why, she was kind enough to give me a makeup assignment and a generous deadline to complete it so my grade wouldn't be affected. Let's talk about her grading. After looking at the fact that her 1st midterm had a T/F section where everyone did badly, she dropped the entire section from our grade because she noticed it hurt our scores. Her grading in the 2nd midterm was INFINITELY more lenient (like to the point where I was even like "should I REALLY be getting credit for that?") and the 2nd midterm even had a 5-point extra credit question which was supposed to bump up our score. She also gives us the option to pick our best midterm and drop our 2 worst HW grades which is more than fair. What's more: she also just gave us an extra credit homework assignment to do that can add *7%* to our final grade — I mean SEVEN PERCENT? Who does that unless they really care about how their students are performing?? I also need to say Prof. Chapouto marked 200+ midterms in ONE NIGHT and had them back to us with quality feedback the next day during her office hours — just so the midterm would be fresh in our minds and we could learn from our mistakes immediately. All I can say is, if you want a professor who's super dedicated to her class, learning from students' feedback, and giving them chance after chance to bounce back, you won't go wrong with this class.
Fall 2021 - A lot of people have been flaming Prof. Chapouto and honestly after my first midterm grade, I probably would've agreed with everything here. But I don't anymore. The one thing that's special about this professor, that I haven't seen with many lower-div profs, is that she cares about her students — and when there's 200+ of them, that's incredibly hard to do but important. She's super approachable and committed to helping us out, not just in her office hours but beyond that. I literally couldn't submit FOUR WEEKS worth of homework in my classes, and when no other professor would care to even listen to why, she was kind enough to give me a makeup assignment and a generous deadline to complete it so my grade wouldn't be affected. Let's talk about her grading. After looking at the fact that her 1st midterm had a T/F section where everyone did badly, she dropped the entire section from our grade because she noticed it hurt our scores. Her grading in the 2nd midterm was INFINITELY more lenient (like to the point where I was even like "should I REALLY be getting credit for that?") and the 2nd midterm even had a 5-point extra credit question which was supposed to bump up our score. She also gives us the option to pick our best midterm and drop our 2 worst HW grades which is more than fair. What's more: she also just gave us an extra credit homework assignment to do that can add *7%* to our final grade — I mean SEVEN PERCENT? Who does that unless they really care about how their students are performing?? I also need to say Prof. Chapouto marked 200+ midterms in ONE NIGHT and had them back to us with quality feedback the next day during her office hours — just so the midterm would be fresh in our minds and we could learn from our mistakes immediately. All I can say is, if you want a professor who's super dedicated to her class, learning from students' feedback, and giving them chance after chance to bounce back, you won't go wrong with this class.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This professor knows what he is teaching and gives engaging lectures. He is very nice and actually cares about your grades and tries to give you the best appropriate grade that you deserve. He also provides the class with past midterms and finals to study before exam. His midterm were very similar to the practice midterms when I took the class. Also, if you need help or have a hard time understanding the material I would recommend for you to go to his office hours because he is very approachable. If you want a good grade and you will put effort then definitely go for him.
Fall 2019 - This professor knows what he is teaching and gives engaging lectures. He is very nice and actually cares about your grades and tries to give you the best appropriate grade that you deserve. He also provides the class with past midterms and finals to study before exam. His midterm were very similar to the practice midterms when I took the class. Also, if you need help or have a hard time understanding the material I would recommend for you to go to his office hours because he is very approachable. If you want a good grade and you will put effort then definitely go for him.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - Professor Jens is young and often funny at times. His homework is incredibly short - I usually finished them in about 10 minutes maximum. His tests are fair. His first two midterms, however, were surprisingly easy. I think about half the class aced the first midterm. Don't get too comfortable though, because he makes his final exam way harder, probably so there aren't too many A's. Highly recommend because his German accent makes the class even more enjoyable, he's funny/friendly, and he allows for cheat sheets - which can be extremely helpful.
Winter 2018 - Professor Jens is young and often funny at times. His homework is incredibly short - I usually finished them in about 10 minutes maximum. His tests are fair. His first two midterms, however, were surprisingly easy. I think about half the class aced the first midterm. Don't get too comfortable though, because he makes his final exam way harder, probably so there aren't too many A's. Highly recommend because his German accent makes the class even more enjoyable, he's funny/friendly, and he allows for cheat sheets - which can be extremely helpful.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I had mixed feelings about this class. Gleizer was clearly passionate about mathematics, but this class's lack of organization made 31A my most stressful course this quarter. Grade breakdown was initially: 50% homework (6 homeworks, lowest score dropped), 10% midterm 1, 10% midterm 2, 30% final. It was eventually changed to: 50% homework (5 homeworks, lowest score dropped), 16.6% midterm 1, 16.6% midterm 2, 16.6% final. We were initially supposed to cover 6 chapters, but by Week 4, we were still on Chapter 1. In the end, we only covered 5 chapters, and this ended up changing how final grades would be broken down. To compensate for our falling behind, Gleizer decided to post 2 one-hour-long lectures every Friday. On top of somewhat rushed, very long homework assignments, I found the content of this class very overwhelming. Gleizer actually managed to lose one entire lecture and part of another, and he didn't rerecord the content. He told us that some of the lost content wouldn't be on any exams, but it ended up being on the midterm. For the first midterm, he actually gave us less than a week's notice regarding when the exam would be, which I found inconsiderate. I guess while Gleizer is a very witty, passionate instructor, I can't help but admit I was disappointed with this class. Neither Gleizer nor his students could have known we would fall behind, but the rushed nature of this course, on top of the addition of extra lectures, made me feel I was forced to commit more time to this course than initially described. I unfortunately don't feel prepared for MATH 31B.
Winter 2021 - I had mixed feelings about this class. Gleizer was clearly passionate about mathematics, but this class's lack of organization made 31A my most stressful course this quarter. Grade breakdown was initially: 50% homework (6 homeworks, lowest score dropped), 10% midterm 1, 10% midterm 2, 30% final. It was eventually changed to: 50% homework (5 homeworks, lowest score dropped), 16.6% midterm 1, 16.6% midterm 2, 16.6% final. We were initially supposed to cover 6 chapters, but by Week 4, we were still on Chapter 1. In the end, we only covered 5 chapters, and this ended up changing how final grades would be broken down. To compensate for our falling behind, Gleizer decided to post 2 one-hour-long lectures every Friday. On top of somewhat rushed, very long homework assignments, I found the content of this class very overwhelming. Gleizer actually managed to lose one entire lecture and part of another, and he didn't rerecord the content. He told us that some of the lost content wouldn't be on any exams, but it ended up being on the midterm. For the first midterm, he actually gave us less than a week's notice regarding when the exam would be, which I found inconsiderate. I guess while Gleizer is a very witty, passionate instructor, I can't help but admit I was disappointed with this class. Neither Gleizer nor his students could have known we would fall behind, but the rushed nature of this course, on top of the addition of extra lectures, made me feel I was forced to commit more time to this course than initially described. I unfortunately don't feel prepared for MATH 31B.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2018 - Lectures: I had 8 AM lectures so half of the class was still waking up but she really tried her best to make the lecture interesting. Homework: extremely light workload, like 10-15 problems per week. She didn't even collect them. You just had to come to the discussion to take weekly quizzes that are exactly the same homework problems. Tests: Professor Gong is new but her tests are fair and straightforward. On our midterms and finals, there were 50 points available but she only graded them out of 40 points, which honestly saves my grades so many times. TA: Matthew Stone is a godsend, you're probably fine without going to lecture. Just reading the textbook and attending the discussion most likely suffice. Warning: I came into 31A thinking it was just Calc AB and I barely passed the first midterm. Don't underestimate the course, take your homework seriously, read the lessons before and after class, make sure your algebra is solid and you would probably ace it!
Fall 2018 - Lectures: I had 8 AM lectures so half of the class was still waking up but she really tried her best to make the lecture interesting. Homework: extremely light workload, like 10-15 problems per week. She didn't even collect them. You just had to come to the discussion to take weekly quizzes that are exactly the same homework problems. Tests: Professor Gong is new but her tests are fair and straightforward. On our midterms and finals, there were 50 points available but she only graded them out of 40 points, which honestly saves my grades so many times. TA: Matthew Stone is a godsend, you're probably fine without going to lecture. Just reading the textbook and attending the discussion most likely suffice. Warning: I came into 31A thinking it was just Calc AB and I barely passed the first midterm. Don't underestimate the course, take your homework seriously, read the lessons before and after class, make sure your algebra is solid and you would probably ace it!
Most Helpful Review
Summer 2020 - Admittedly I found this class easy because I'd taken AP Calculus in high school, but I think even people without prior knowledge will do well with Professor Greene. She genuinely cares about her students, so she's always willing to answer questions and help you when you have trouble. Her lectures move at an appropriate pace and are pretty clear, and when something is unclear and you need clarification she's always willing to explain. Each homework assignment was only about 10 problems, and while there were several assignments due across the week, it was easily manageable; it wasn't busywork with too many useless problems. Exams were the same difficulty or slightly harder (but not too much harder) than homework. The TA Harris Khan was also very helpful, doing many clear examples and having a lot of office hours to help students. Overall, I'd highly recommend taking math with Paige Greene.
Summer 2020 - Admittedly I found this class easy because I'd taken AP Calculus in high school, but I think even people without prior knowledge will do well with Professor Greene. She genuinely cares about her students, so she's always willing to answer questions and help you when you have trouble. Her lectures move at an appropriate pace and are pretty clear, and when something is unclear and you need clarification she's always willing to explain. Each homework assignment was only about 10 problems, and while there were several assignments due across the week, it was easily manageable; it wasn't busywork with too many useless problems. Exams were the same difficulty or slightly harder (but not too much harder) than homework. The TA Harris Khan was also very helpful, doing many clear examples and having a lot of office hours to help students. Overall, I'd highly recommend taking math with Paige Greene.
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