MATH 32A
Calculus of Several Variables
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 31A with grade of C- or better. Introduction to differential calculus of several variables, vector field theory. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
I thought Schul was a good professor, he explained everything great, was willing to answer anyone's question (even the people that would always ask really annoying questions). The TAs however...(Wilson and Dustin) are not very good. Wilson is a d*ck, and Dustin is just not very effective. Anytime you ask Wilson a question, he basically tells you to go f*ck urself and figure it out on your own.
I thought Schul was a good professor, he explained everything great, was willing to answer anyone's question (even the people that would always ask really annoying questions). The TAs however...(Wilson and Dustin) are not very good. Wilson is a d*ck, and Dustin is just not very effective. Anytime you ask Wilson a question, he basically tells you to go f*ck urself and figure it out on your own.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - If Brian Shin has a million supporters, I AM ONE OF THEM. If Brian Shin has a thousand supporters, I AM ONE OF THEM. If Brian Shin has one supporter, I AM THAT SUPPORTER. If he has no supporters, THEN I AM DEAD. IF THE WORLD IS AGAINST BRIAN SHIN, I AM AGAINST THE WORLD.
Winter 2023 - If Brian Shin has a million supporters, I AM ONE OF THEM. If Brian Shin has a thousand supporters, I AM ONE OF THEM. If Brian Shin has one supporter, I AM THAT SUPPORTER. If he has no supporters, THEN I AM DEAD. IF THE WORLD IS AGAINST BRIAN SHIN, I AM AGAINST THE WORLD.
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Most Helpful Review
So I noticed that not many people sign up for his class and instead opt for Park. Bottom line is, take Park if you want to learn the material, and take Song if you want easy exams. Song's exams were straight from the book and homework (just with different numbers). He gets the harder problems from the chapter reviews. The curve is set pretty low, which I don't understand. His accent is very heavy, but you get used to it. Just sit in the front.
So I noticed that not many people sign up for his class and instead opt for Park. Bottom line is, take Park if you want to learn the material, and take Song if you want easy exams. Song's exams were straight from the book and homework (just with different numbers). He gets the harder problems from the chapter reviews. The curve is set pretty low, which I don't understand. His accent is very heavy, but you get used to it. Just sit in the front.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Spaas is a great lecturer and probably the most wholesomest, nicest man ever. I think I have a relatively more unbiased view of his class lol because despite the fact that his final was pretty horrible, I'll probably go through w taking his 32B class again next quarter. Homework: Super easy, graded on accuracy so just be careful and check before you turn them in. He drops the 2 lowest HW grades too, but that wasn't an issue for most people. They were easier than midterms/finals questions too. Discussions: as others have said, completely useless. We're supposed to do worksheets during discussion, but my TA (Ben) would spend half the class going over the first 2 questions (always SUPER easy) and never talk about the last questions, which is what we actually needed help on. SPAAS does not provide solutions to his discussion worksheets, so you just have to pray your TA is nice enough to give them to you. Ben was not... but he was a very nice, wholesome dude that was always really approachable. The worksheets are also super conceptual and a bit tricky – harder than midterms. Midterms: They are pretty straightforward, but they're only out of 40 points. SMALL MISTAKES WILL KILL YOUR SCORES. He is pretty nitpicky too about some small things as well. One time I wrote down the CORRECT equation with the numbers already plugged in instead of the original equation with variables AND he took a full point off (which is like 2.5% off right there), which makes 0 sense. The averages are like low B's which is pretty standard. After my first midterm grade came out, I was only marked off for nitpicky stuff so I was kinda mad at Spaas. But tbh seeing his beautiful face and nice personality in class the next Monday kinda made me forget about that. FOR MIDTERM 2, he didn't give us study questions or anything also, which was annoying, but he did for midterm 1 and final. Final: SO HARD. He literally told us that it would 70% straightforward and 30% not straightforward the Friday before, so at least he was honest... The test was just extremely conceptual, with true/false/not enough info questions and a weird last thing where you had to calculate cross products using geometric stuff and arc length parametrizations . Although our final grades were curved, ultimately, I got a lower final grade than my 2 midterms, which was pretty upsetting because I had done much better than average on both of them. Honestly, if it wasn't for that how tRiCKy/nOt sTraightfOrWard that final was, I probably could've done much better overall. :((
Fall 2019 - Spaas is a great lecturer and probably the most wholesomest, nicest man ever. I think I have a relatively more unbiased view of his class lol because despite the fact that his final was pretty horrible, I'll probably go through w taking his 32B class again next quarter. Homework: Super easy, graded on accuracy so just be careful and check before you turn them in. He drops the 2 lowest HW grades too, but that wasn't an issue for most people. They were easier than midterms/finals questions too. Discussions: as others have said, completely useless. We're supposed to do worksheets during discussion, but my TA (Ben) would spend half the class going over the first 2 questions (always SUPER easy) and never talk about the last questions, which is what we actually needed help on. SPAAS does not provide solutions to his discussion worksheets, so you just have to pray your TA is nice enough to give them to you. Ben was not... but he was a very nice, wholesome dude that was always really approachable. The worksheets are also super conceptual and a bit tricky – harder than midterms. Midterms: They are pretty straightforward, but they're only out of 40 points. SMALL MISTAKES WILL KILL YOUR SCORES. He is pretty nitpicky too about some small things as well. One time I wrote down the CORRECT equation with the numbers already plugged in instead of the original equation with variables AND he took a full point off (which is like 2.5% off right there), which makes 0 sense. The averages are like low B's which is pretty standard. After my first midterm grade came out, I was only marked off for nitpicky stuff so I was kinda mad at Spaas. But tbh seeing his beautiful face and nice personality in class the next Monday kinda made me forget about that. FOR MIDTERM 2, he didn't give us study questions or anything also, which was annoying, but he did for midterm 1 and final. Final: SO HARD. He literally told us that it would 70% straightforward and 30% not straightforward the Friday before, so at least he was honest... The test was just extremely conceptual, with true/false/not enough info questions and a weird last thing where you had to calculate cross products using geometric stuff and arc length parametrizations . Although our final grades were curved, ultimately, I got a lower final grade than my 2 midterms, which was pretty upsetting because I had done much better than average on both of them. Honestly, if it wasn't for that how tRiCKy/nOt sTraightfOrWard that final was, I probably could've done much better overall. :((
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