I find it pretty interesting that almost every evaluation written before me is so negative. All in all, I don't believe Professor Aschenbrenner is as horrible as people make him sound. While he does simply do examples from the book, I always found that going to lecture was EXTREMELY HELPFUL. I love the way he draws graphs to illustrate what he is saying (such as with integration and Taylor Polynomials, etc.). I also thought that his explanations in class were clear and concise while bringing a greater understanding to the subject. I would definitely say if you wan to do well in this class to go to both section and lecture as they are extremely helpful. Try and get a Thursday section because some of the homework problems cover sections that won't be covered until AFTER you turn in the homework (which was definitely a downside). His midterms aren't too hard, the mean for both being in the mid to high 50's. BEWARE of the final though - it's RIDICULOUSLY hard. It's cumulative and he doesn't allow any notes, so study hard.

I didn't mean the comment below, didn't realize that was academic dishonesty...those notes are not available!

I took Professor Brown's 31B in Winter.

About lectures

He closely follows the book and does tons of examples in class. However, he goes over definitions very fast, so it would really be helpful to do previews. He will sometimes post challenging problems, some of which may appear in the final, so be sure to understand those challenging problems!

About availability

Professor Brown is really kind and available. You can not only reach him by email but also additional office hours. He will add extra office hours right before the test, so it may be a good way to boost your exam scores.

About homework and quizzes

Professor Brown has quizzes every week, but all the quiz problems come from your homework. If you do the homework and check the answers, you will be fine. He does this to make his students keep up with the course.

About exams

I know people say his tests are hard, but in my opinion his tests are not "hard" but "awkward." His first 31B exam has a problem of 31A concept. If you didn't take his 31A course, you probably won't even think about doing that problem with 31A concept.

I have to say all his tests are very, very easy, but the median scores are around 65-75.

About grades

Professor Brown said he will give the first 50% students a grade B- or better, so we thought he would curve the class as other Professors do: 25% As and 25% Bs. However, to get an A, you have to get 94% or higher for the total score. Keep in mind the median is around 65-75.

You can tell from the grade distribution above.

About topics

Professor Brown does not cover trigonometric substitution, which you will eventually use in 32B. Everything else is fine since he mostly follows the syllabus in department's website.

Course: Math31B

I personally find his class VERY stressful. He is a nice guy and I guess he can be helpful one-on-one during office hours, but during lecture I understand absolutely nothing. I basically depend on discussion and teaching myself everything from the book. Which would be okay if his tests weren't so tricky.
Plus he's super nervous in front of a big class. And just makes everything more confusing and trickier than it needs to be.
I wouldn't recommend him if you're the kind of student who needs things explained to you clearly and, like me, whose brain shuts down during a midterm when given super tricky questions and ends up doing poorly even after countless days of studying.

Really good professor. Knows exactly what to teach and how to teach it. Anyone talking about his accent is just being pretentious cause it isn't that bad. He's a very good professor to have for math.

He is a really good professor who cares about his students. He explains thing thoroughly in his lectures and is both available and helpful in his office hours. If you cant you should take him!

Had him for both 31B and 32A. Pretty good professor overall. He lectures clearly and is easy to follow.
His office hour is super helpful since he is always willing to show you the answer in homework(which is closely related to the exams), and present some methods that can be used to solve problems in the exam. Be sure to do his practice exams!!!!!

Got A's in both classes.

He did not work for me as a math teacher at all. He teaches like he's talking to himself and the class was too hard to understand. He is a cute and nice person overall, but definitely not the best math professor.

Also, i want to add that the class isn't necessarily an easy class but if you do all of her problems, pay attention in class, and understand it all, the class becomes significantly easier. she is just amazing in every aspect. she puts in a lot of work on her part and expects you to do the same. but you end up wanting to put in the effort because you see her working so hard. take her class!!!!!!!

I can't even say how bad this class is... I thought I knew the material going into the midterms. Little did I realize, he only tests on PROOFS! UGH. Not only are these hard to memorize, but you come out of the class not understanding anything. Avoid this professor.