Garfinkel is the funniest man ever! He always makes little jokes throughout class. When I headed into LS 30A in my freshman year fall quarter, I was so scared because all these concepts and graphs looked so difficult to me. But Garfinkel somehow made it easier to understand for me. By the time of the midterm and final, I was able to do these problems so easily without any hesitation. I also loved collaborating during lab, which helped me understand concepts in lecture more in depth. I would highly recommend this class! The grade distribution is: Homework 10%, Labs 12%, Midterm 25%, Final Exam 47%, Lab exam 3%, and Participation 3%.

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Okay, so I went into this class with knowledge from Calc AB & BC, but this class honestly doesn't require any specific prior knowledge of calculus... maybe just know how to take SIMPLE derivatives haha.

Garfinkel was incredibly passionate about this subject, as the textbook was also written by him, so he made the subject material easy to digest. Try to understand the homework (at least look at the solutions and understand the thought processes) and try to pay attention during lecture. The labs are quite annoying in my opinion, but do it with friends and reach out for help!

As for the tests, focus on doing the practice tests given to you and the ones available in test banks. Garfinkel's are harder than other professors' tests, but I feel that he taught well, so they're fair tests.

Everyone in my class loved Garfinkel but I did not. He taught well but his personality irked me. Other than that, his class was pretty fair. The midterm was harder than the practice ones, so I messed up which is why I got an A-. I also hated this class because it was all stupid nonsense. Will I ever use this again? Probably not. It was portrayed as the stuff we’ll actually use as doctors!! but I did not buy into that at all. I would take this class solely because 30B, especially with Jukka, is great and a lot easier

Garfinkel is a God. Take this class!

You ever wondered what it would be like to learn the most unnecessary and fake math you could ever imagine? Take this class to find out. I swear I have no idea how they let this class slide. The math is only applicable if you know real math. Derivatives and Integrals? Naw, the life science department said that isn't important to life. What a joke.

Also, the LA's and TA's in this class piss me off. They are trained to not answer any of your questions during the stupid programming section. They just come back at you with another question to your question. Like dude, just shut up and give me an answer I'm not trying to finesse you omg. Maybe my LA was just an idiot, but most of them just kept saying stupid crap every time I answered a question.

Also, they don't post homework answers and have flaws literally everywhere. Why the hell would you assign homework without answers to a MATH CLASS. Math is all practice so good luck just hoping you get the right answer and then getting your homework back 3 weeks later to find out you did it wrong.

Additionally, I sent this dude like 4 corrections on his textbook and he was like "oh good catch!" Like dude I shouldn't be doing your job.

However, this class isn't hard, just look at old midterms. Garfinkel def curves the class so don't worry if you aren't scoring perfect. Just know this class is frustrating because it is both useless and unnecessarily annoying.

BEST. PROFESSOR. EVER. !!!
Seriously he is so charismatic and I aspire to be as genius as him. He will make you love math, I loved going to his class. He really makes you feel prepared for a medical career hahahah. He doesn't give lectures,,, he PErForMsSSS. He was my first impression of an UCLA lecture and I was impressed. READ the book please. It is the best way to learn the material,, he is the "harder" professor but the better one :))))))) have fun, you'll like it!

Garfinkel is an excellent professor. He knows the material well, and it appears as if he really enjoys teaching it. Furthermore, he's always open to help his students and really does put in the effort to provide students with resources or opportunities to improve their understanding of the material. Garfinkel is also very animated, and he cracks lots of jokes during class. I recommend going to his office hours even if you understand the material because he often explains homework questions or provides useful information that you may have missed.

Just take this class. Not only is the work very doable, but the professor is amazing.

Professor Garfinkel will always be there to help and he really loves what he is teaching. The labs can be a bit confusing so I suggest you make a little study group. People on my floor and I would always collaborate and work together on LS30 so we could help eachother get through it.