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 stopped going to lecture because it just became pointless since her notes were all over the place and she made it more confusing than necessary. On the other hand, her exams are really easy and if you can do the homework, you can get 100%. Her grading curve was horrible, she ended up changing people's grades and changing the curve and didn't respond to my e-mails after she lowered my grade. So take her at your own risk.
i stopped going to lecture because it just became pointless since her notes were all over the place and she made it more confusing than necessary. On the other hand, her exams are really easy and if you can do the homework, you can get 100%. Her grading curve was horrible, she ended up changing people's grades and changing the curve and didn't respond to my e-mails after she lowered my grade. So take her at your own risk.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Professor Filipazzi is a really good professor and I thoroughly enjoyed this class with him even though it was pretty hard. The exams were definitely very challenging and long while given the 24 hour window to complete them. The exams are definitely very long to begin with but I think it's important to note that when you're given a 24 hour winds to take an exam you're definitely going to be trying to perfect every single answer and taking your time solving ones you don't know etc. I took like 8+ hours on the second midterm and final but that was also because I was studying the topics along the way to help me answer the questions lol. Though they were long, they weren't TOO hard as the average for Midterm 1 was a high B, almost low A. Second midterm was definitely harder and the average was a high C. The final however was long but easier in my opinion than the midterms and the average and median were A's. The exams were doable you just had to study and be careful showing your work. Also a lot of people told him midterm 2 was extremely long and difficult and in return he sent us a long email explaining his perspective on the midterm and apologized for misjudging the length of the exam. He also further tried to help us by giving us tons of practice problems for the final and they were very similar to the final which is probably why the scores were so high. He also wrote long explanations about optimization and Lagrange multipliers since those are harder topics in the class to try and help us prepare for the final. Also to the person saying he addresses his mistakes through cryptic code in the email: his email are from CCLE announcements. He writes them as announcements and then CCLE sends them as an email as a notification. When you read the announcements on CCLE they have the correct math symbols etc. It's not cryptic code lol I'm dumb so I got a B (pretty sure a good chunk of people got A's since the averages were always so high) but I actually learned a lot from professor Filipazzi and recommend him as a professor. He cares about his students and genuinely wants them to succeed. edit: he actually curved up so I ended with a B+. thank u filipazzi <3
Fall 2020 - Professor Filipazzi is a really good professor and I thoroughly enjoyed this class with him even though it was pretty hard. The exams were definitely very challenging and long while given the 24 hour window to complete them. The exams are definitely very long to begin with but I think it's important to note that when you're given a 24 hour winds to take an exam you're definitely going to be trying to perfect every single answer and taking your time solving ones you don't know etc. I took like 8+ hours on the second midterm and final but that was also because I was studying the topics along the way to help me answer the questions lol. Though they were long, they weren't TOO hard as the average for Midterm 1 was a high B, almost low A. Second midterm was definitely harder and the average was a high C. The final however was long but easier in my opinion than the midterms and the average and median were A's. The exams were doable you just had to study and be careful showing your work. Also a lot of people told him midterm 2 was extremely long and difficult and in return he sent us a long email explaining his perspective on the midterm and apologized for misjudging the length of the exam. He also further tried to help us by giving us tons of practice problems for the final and they were very similar to the final which is probably why the scores were so high. He also wrote long explanations about optimization and Lagrange multipliers since those are harder topics in the class to try and help us prepare for the final. Also to the person saying he addresses his mistakes through cryptic code in the email: his email are from CCLE announcements. He writes them as announcements and then CCLE sends them as an email as a notification. When you read the announcements on CCLE they have the correct math symbols etc. It's not cryptic code lol I'm dumb so I got a B (pretty sure a good chunk of people got A's since the averages were always so high) but I actually learned a lot from professor Filipazzi and recommend him as a professor. He cares about his students and genuinely wants them to succeed. edit: he actually curved up so I ended with a B+. thank u filipazzi <3
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Spring 2018 - Before the quarter even started, we get an email from him saying that he won't be around for the first month or so. Is teaching such a low priority for some professors that they won't even bother being around for half the quarter? He has two different substitutes who both do a better job of teaching and explaining the material than him. He's not a particularly effective professor, and he has a weird way of explaining and wording things; his English isn't fantastic. More on that later. His midterms were pretty easy, and the practice midterms he supplied were very similar to the actual midterms. They had one or two conceptual questions that were doable. However, his final was absolutely awful. The practice final had no relevance to what was actually tested, and it was more than half conceptual questions. This was especially frustrating because he phrases his questions in a way that made absolutely no sense at all, asking some questions that I don't think even a genius could decipher. Am I only writing this because I'm frustrated with how I did with the final? Maybe. But, I always say him as unapproachable, cared little for his students, and also he just spoke very quietly in a large lecture hall (we used to be in La Kretz and he used no mic). Overall, just avoid this guy. The math department already sucks but don't make it any worse than it needs to be.
Spring 2018 - Before the quarter even started, we get an email from him saying that he won't be around for the first month or so. Is teaching such a low priority for some professors that they won't even bother being around for half the quarter? He has two different substitutes who both do a better job of teaching and explaining the material than him. He's not a particularly effective professor, and he has a weird way of explaining and wording things; his English isn't fantastic. More on that later. His midterms were pretty easy, and the practice midterms he supplied were very similar to the actual midterms. They had one or two conceptual questions that were doable. However, his final was absolutely awful. The practice final had no relevance to what was actually tested, and it was more than half conceptual questions. This was especially frustrating because he phrases his questions in a way that made absolutely no sense at all, asking some questions that I don't think even a genius could decipher. Am I only writing this because I'm frustrated with how I did with the final? Maybe. But, I always say him as unapproachable, cared little for his students, and also he just spoke very quietly in a large lecture hall (we used to be in La Kretz and he used no mic). Overall, just avoid this guy. The math department already sucks but don't make it any worse than it needs to be.
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Winter 2020 - **Extenuating circumstances warning** I took the final for this class in the middle of a raging virus epidemic (which is still going on as I speak), so perhaps the situation can speak more or less for itself depending on when you read this. However, I strongly believe that a person's true colors show during times of intense distress and difficulty and Sherry Gong is something of a hero. She had sent us almost a hundred emails constantly trying to help us and figure out a solution to online finals while also being fair and accommodating to the fact that every one of her students were affected in different ways. She not only made the final exam collaborative and open book, but also offered real time personalized help on the practice exam and final. She even accounted for the fact that in an almost 200+ class there may be people who have less friends than others and went and found groupme collaborating groups and other resources for their benefit. I have, in my life, seldom had a teacher who cares this much about the well being of her students in times of incredible anxiety and distress. As grateful as I am to the medical professionals and other society members who help us through times like these, I don't think teachers get enough credit for the amazing work they do. Thank you Sherry and no matter what grade I receive in this class, your commitment to our success in times of hardship is something I will never forget.
Winter 2020 - **Extenuating circumstances warning** I took the final for this class in the middle of a raging virus epidemic (which is still going on as I speak), so perhaps the situation can speak more or less for itself depending on when you read this. However, I strongly believe that a person's true colors show during times of intense distress and difficulty and Sherry Gong is something of a hero. She had sent us almost a hundred emails constantly trying to help us and figure out a solution to online finals while also being fair and accommodating to the fact that every one of her students were affected in different ways. She not only made the final exam collaborative and open book, but also offered real time personalized help on the practice exam and final. She even accounted for the fact that in an almost 200+ class there may be people who have less friends than others and went and found groupme collaborating groups and other resources for their benefit. I have, in my life, seldom had a teacher who cares this much about the well being of her students in times of incredible anxiety and distress. As grateful as I am to the medical professionals and other society members who help us through times like these, I don't think teachers get enough credit for the amazing work they do. Thank you Sherry and no matter what grade I receive in this class, your commitment to our success in times of hardship is something I will never forget.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Preface: this is a review for math 31B with Professor Greene not 32A Imagine: you are a first-year bio major having just taken AP Calculus BC and you need to start your major prerequisites, one of which is the math series. "Oh, calc 31b should be easy," you think. "I mean, I just finished calc bc so it should be a nice way to ease into a college courseload..." Ten weeks later your skin is oily, you haven't slept in a week, and all of your hair has turned grey as the final exam approaches and you are even MORE confused about calculus now than you were before you took the class. Let me get something straight, this class is not taught by Professor Greene, it is taught by Sal Khan and the archived videos of your high school calc bc teacher. Professor Greene's lectures are so convoluted and his notes are so messy that you will have a better chance of translating hieroglyphs than you will in trying to understand his thought process. The TA's in this class genuinely try to make the course material understandable, but when faced with mass confusion as every single student has multiple questions to answer in only a 50 minute period, it is impossible to make up for Professor Greene's incapability as a teacher. Generally, the workload is manageable on non Gradescope homework days. But on the weeks that Professor Greene assigns written homework, your time is better spent writing your will and picking out a cute coffin than it is trying to understand his extremely vague questions or deciphering his chicken scratch. The written homework for this class is so mentally taxing that each assignment has a high chance of landing you in the ICU by question 3. There is no doubt that professor Greene knows the material; the issue is that he is utterly incapable of conveying it to undergrad students in such a way that is comprehensible. Other students in the line for Rende have confused me for an upperclassman because the insomnia caused by this class has led to eyebags that rival the soulless look of a 4th year with thousands of dollars in student loans, an unpaid internship with a misogynist boss, and 4 research papers to write. For the sake of your mental, physical, emotional, and academic health, please please please do not take this class.
Fall 2021 - Preface: this is a review for math 31B with Professor Greene not 32A Imagine: you are a first-year bio major having just taken AP Calculus BC and you need to start your major prerequisites, one of which is the math series. "Oh, calc 31b should be easy," you think. "I mean, I just finished calc bc so it should be a nice way to ease into a college courseload..." Ten weeks later your skin is oily, you haven't slept in a week, and all of your hair has turned grey as the final exam approaches and you are even MORE confused about calculus now than you were before you took the class. Let me get something straight, this class is not taught by Professor Greene, it is taught by Sal Khan and the archived videos of your high school calc bc teacher. Professor Greene's lectures are so convoluted and his notes are so messy that you will have a better chance of translating hieroglyphs than you will in trying to understand his thought process. The TA's in this class genuinely try to make the course material understandable, but when faced with mass confusion as every single student has multiple questions to answer in only a 50 minute period, it is impossible to make up for Professor Greene's incapability as a teacher. Generally, the workload is manageable on non Gradescope homework days. But on the weeks that Professor Greene assigns written homework, your time is better spent writing your will and picking out a cute coffin than it is trying to understand his extremely vague questions or deciphering his chicken scratch. The written homework for this class is so mentally taxing that each assignment has a high chance of landing you in the ICU by question 3. There is no doubt that professor Greene knows the material; the issue is that he is utterly incapable of conveying it to undergrad students in such a way that is comprehensible. Other students in the line for Rende have confused me for an upperclassman because the insomnia caused by this class has led to eyebags that rival the soulless look of a 4th year with thousands of dollars in student loans, an unpaid internship with a misogynist boss, and 4 research papers to write. For the sake of your mental, physical, emotional, and academic health, please please please do not take this class.
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