MATH 33B
Differential Equations
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 31B with grade of C- or better. Highly recommended: course 33A. First-order, linear differential equations; second-order, linear differential equations with constant coefficients; power series solutions; linear systems. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
I see this professor all the time when I walk through MS. He's always available. Math 33B is the easiest of the 30 series, although the 31s were easy. Class continues what was introduced in 31B. He stresses the theory of differential equations, which can be tricky but shouldn't be too bad if you really understand it. Only bad thing is there's no cheat sheet and the quizzes can be annoying and stressful.
I see this professor all the time when I walk through MS. He's always available. Math 33B is the easiest of the 30 series, although the 31s were easy. Class continues what was introduced in 31B. He stresses the theory of differential equations, which can be tricky but shouldn't be too bad if you really understand it. Only bad thing is there's no cheat sheet and the quizzes can be annoying and stressful.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - The highlight of this professor was his office hours. He had some of the best office hours of any professor I've ever had. He was very helpful without just handing students the answers to the homework. BUT he did assign a LOT of homework. Overall I really enjoyed this class and I think mostly it was because the professor was so cool.
Spring 2018 - The highlight of this professor was his office hours. He had some of the best office hours of any professor I've ever had. He was very helpful without just handing students the answers to the homework. BUT he did assign a LOT of homework. Overall I really enjoyed this class and I think mostly it was because the professor was so cool.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - Do not ignore the other reviews on this page for S25. The class felt like a mess and much of it has to do, in my opinion, with some questionable decisions by the professor. - Replacing discussion sections completely with limited 1-on-3 "tutoring sections" was in no way helpful to students' learning. The discussion format worked for every other lower division math course perfectly well. - The test questions are very similar to those on the worksheets given in class, which sounds good until you learn that there will be no solutions posted, and obviously with the volume of questions per class there isn't time to solve all of them during them, so what can students do to prepare? You're on your own! - Tests are graded (or, more "factored") on an arbitrary scale. No, seriously, I don't know how my grades are calculated even though I know my score on every single homework, quiz, and test, along with the weights. Honestly if you do end up in this class, your biggest challenge will probably be his tests. They are hard, but not insurmountable. I genuinely hope that some of these mistakes will be fixed in the future to give the students a better learning experience.
Spring 2025 - Do not ignore the other reviews on this page for S25. The class felt like a mess and much of it has to do, in my opinion, with some questionable decisions by the professor. - Replacing discussion sections completely with limited 1-on-3 "tutoring sections" was in no way helpful to students' learning. The discussion format worked for every other lower division math course perfectly well. - The test questions are very similar to those on the worksheets given in class, which sounds good until you learn that there will be no solutions posted, and obviously with the volume of questions per class there isn't time to solve all of them during them, so what can students do to prepare? You're on your own! - Tests are graded (or, more "factored") on an arbitrary scale. No, seriously, I don't know how my grades are calculated even though I know my score on every single homework, quiz, and test, along with the weights. Honestly if you do end up in this class, your biggest challenge will probably be his tests. They are hard, but not insurmountable. I genuinely hope that some of these mistakes will be fixed in the future to give the students a better learning experience.
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Most Helpful Review
In all honestly, Song is a pretty lousy professor. His lectures are borderline incomprehensible, and you have to mostly study from the book. That being said, his midterms and final were extremely easy...mostly homework questions regurgitated with different numbers. I probably skipped half my lectures and did decently well on the midterms and final, so I am expecting a B+/A-, if his curve is generous then an A is also possible. My recommendation: if you can study on your own from the book, take Song. His class is extremely easy as long as you can teach yourself.
In all honestly, Song is a pretty lousy professor. His lectures are borderline incomprehensible, and you have to mostly study from the book. That being said, his midterms and final were extremely easy...mostly homework questions regurgitated with different numbers. I probably skipped half my lectures and did decently well on the midterms and final, so I am expecting a B+/A-, if his curve is generous then an A is also possible. My recommendation: if you can study on your own from the book, take Song. His class is extremely easy as long as you can teach yourself.
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