Alexandr A Sherstov
Department of Computer Science
AD
4.7
Overall Rating
Based on 37 Users
Easiness 3.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.8 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.6 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.8 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Engaging Lectures
  • Would Take Again
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
17.3%
14.4%
11.5%
8.7%
5.8%
2.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

16.4%
13.7%
10.9%
8.2%
5.5%
2.7%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

21.8%
18.1%
14.5%
10.9%
7.3%
3.6%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

17.2%
14.3%
11.4%
8.6%
5.7%
2.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

12.5%
10.4%
8.3%
6.3%
4.2%
2.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

19.4%
16.1%
12.9%
9.7%
6.5%
3.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

16.8%
14.0%
11.2%
8.4%
5.6%
2.8%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

14.4%
12.0%
9.6%
7.2%
4.8%
2.4%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

14.3%
11.9%
9.5%
7.1%
4.8%
2.4%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

AD

Reviews (27)

2 of 3
2 of 3
Add your review...
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: NR
June 18, 2022

Worst professor with worst grading scheme!

Helpful?

1 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: NR
June 5, 2022

I personally feel that Sherstov is a pretty overrated professor. People make him out to be much more captivating and engaging than he really is, which makes you think this class is easier than a typical upper div. I personally felt he had a Smallberg esque teaching style, where he spends an eternity developing an idea and you just can't focus long enough to see it to full comprehension. Also, his tests are not easy. This material is really complicated and proof oriented. I am prob gonna get hate for these reviews because some people love him as a professor. This isn't to say he's not a good lecturer, but hes made out to be way better than he actually is, especially in the context of CS professors at UCLA(but I think this speaks more towards the low quality of lecturing at UCLA rather than this man's individual brilliance).

Helpful?

1 3 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Sept. 13, 2023

I really enjoyed taking Theory of Computing with Sherstov. He is very passionate about the topics and explains them clearly and engagingly. His lectures are well-structured and he uses a lot of examples and diagrams to illustrate the concepts. He also has amazing communication skills and is always available to answer questions and give feedback. The homeworks are challenging but they help you learn a lot and prepare you for the exams. The exams are fair and he provides practice exams that cover the main points. I would highly recommend this course to anyone taking CS181

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A+
June 22, 2023

Best class I've ever taken in my life. It was magical.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
May 31, 2023

This course is the perfect model of how a class should be. There are a million examples for everything. A million practice problems for every exam. Everything is well-explained. And it's STILL challenging.
I'm so sick of professors who don't provide enough examples or leverage the amount of material they give you, so this class is a breath of fresh air. The grade is 80% exams, and they can be difficult but there's zero bullshit: you know exactly what's gonna be on there before you take it.
Some reviews mention that you have to come up with creative solutions yourself instead of just following some algorithm, which is true. Welcome to computer science!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: NR
March 18, 2020

first and foremost , a great professor doesnt need to be just an easy one, this class is not easy but not difficult either. However, Sherstov completely changed my opinion about this class , i thought this might be a boring class at the beginning, but now this is my favorite subject and favorite class at UCLA so far. Sherstov is an amazing person and a professor, he teaches both the course material and some life lessons in his lectures, he is such an inspiring person who always motivated me to think and learn more and more. I am also impressed by his diligence, patience and understanding, he and his TAs work extra hard to remove our stress and to make everything available to us. He is certainly the best professor I've seen so far, I hope I can take more classes with him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 14, 2020

I'm a sub 3.0 GPA student, and I got an A in this class. His passion for teaching and the subject matter is contagious (I couldn't care less about automation before this class and now I'm hooke). Quite frankly the best professor I've had the pleasure to listen to. I believe every student believes that the grade they get in the class is perfectly justified. The class is designed for you to succeed as long as you put in effort.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A+
March 13, 2020

Absolutely with no doubt the best professor in the CS department, if you are tired of the unclear and unorganized random lectures from other CS professors, (we all know who they are, no disrespect, but that is torture) welcome to prof. Sherstov's lecture where you will feel like you are still truly loved by the world.
This class is not easy but he made it clear and understandable. He is passionate about his class and he is patient to answer all the questions. There are 10 homeworks that takes 20% of the total grade, but they are grade by effort, so basically just participation points, although understand hw would definitely help with your exams so, try hard.
there are 4 exams which take 80% of total grades. 25 points available but 20 is full credit. So you have some room. The exam is doable if you know the material, and he provides lots of practice exams. Every time before an exam I just took some time to go through the practice exams and I got 21-ish (full credit) for all my exams.
In conclusion, BEST PROFESSOR to me!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: N/A
Dec. 24, 2019

Like others have mentioned, Sherstov is a masterful teacher who knows his stuff and keeps students' attention from the very first day of class to the very last. His philosophy, which I greatly admire, is that "class attendance is earned", meaning that the professor should be the one to motivate students to come to class and learn instead of making attendance mandatory. And boy, does he earn it. He makes the boring stuff come to life. He really explains concepts well. But you'd be fooling yourself if you thought the course was therefore a walk in the park. On the contrary, this was not one of my best courses at UCLA by a longshot, and the fact that the professor is this great of a help instead of a hindrance makes all the difference in the world. The material is hard, and I did find myself struggling on exams sometimes. Practicing with the practice exams he posts online is ESSENTIAL. But the office hours the TA's and Sherstov held were always extremely helpful. The course will start out easy, but you can easily fall behind if you don't keep up with his lecture material. There's so much material, the exams are scheduled on the discussion sections instead of the lectures. For that reason, having exams every 2 weeks did get a bit overwhelming after a while. But I'm incredibly thankful for Sherstov; he's a really great inspiration and I wish all professors in academia (not just from UCLA) were more like him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B
Dec. 2, 2019

Professor Sherstov is an amazing professor. He is energetic, lively, and great at explaining material. He makes the concepts seem easy and does many examples. His breakdown of material is logical and he also is quick to understand where a student's misunderstandings come from. Professor Sherstov's anecdotes also add a very personable touch to the course and are super inspiring! I wish I could have had more professors like him at UCLA. He also hosts office hours all throughout the week the entire quarter for his students and takes so much time out of his schedule to provide such a good class experience. Perhaps the only weakness of the course is that I wish we could have had the lectures placed on bruincast to watch later, and also for classes that I could not make it. They are definitely lectures worth watching again.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: NR
June 18, 2022

Worst professor with worst grading scheme!

Helpful?

1 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2022
Grade: NR
June 5, 2022

I personally feel that Sherstov is a pretty overrated professor. People make him out to be much more captivating and engaging than he really is, which makes you think this class is easier than a typical upper div. I personally felt he had a Smallberg esque teaching style, where he spends an eternity developing an idea and you just can't focus long enough to see it to full comprehension. Also, his tests are not easy. This material is really complicated and proof oriented. I am prob gonna get hate for these reviews because some people love him as a professor. This isn't to say he's not a good lecturer, but hes made out to be way better than he actually is, especially in the context of CS professors at UCLA(but I think this speaks more towards the low quality of lecturing at UCLA rather than this man's individual brilliance).

Helpful?

1 3 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A
Sept. 13, 2023

I really enjoyed taking Theory of Computing with Sherstov. He is very passionate about the topics and explains them clearly and engagingly. His lectures are well-structured and he uses a lot of examples and diagrams to illustrate the concepts. He also has amazing communication skills and is always available to answer questions and give feedback. The homeworks are challenging but they help you learn a lot and prepare you for the exams. The exams are fair and he provides practice exams that cover the main points. I would highly recommend this course to anyone taking CS181

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: A+
June 22, 2023

Best class I've ever taken in my life. It was magical.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2023
Grade: N/A
May 31, 2023

This course is the perfect model of how a class should be. There are a million examples for everything. A million practice problems for every exam. Everything is well-explained. And it's STILL challenging.
I'm so sick of professors who don't provide enough examples or leverage the amount of material they give you, so this class is a breath of fresh air. The grade is 80% exams, and they can be difficult but there's zero bullshit: you know exactly what's gonna be on there before you take it.
Some reviews mention that you have to come up with creative solutions yourself instead of just following some algorithm, which is true. Welcome to computer science!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: NR
March 18, 2020

first and foremost , a great professor doesnt need to be just an easy one, this class is not easy but not difficult either. However, Sherstov completely changed my opinion about this class , i thought this might be a boring class at the beginning, but now this is my favorite subject and favorite class at UCLA so far. Sherstov is an amazing person and a professor, he teaches both the course material and some life lessons in his lectures, he is such an inspiring person who always motivated me to think and learn more and more. I am also impressed by his diligence, patience and understanding, he and his TAs work extra hard to remove our stress and to make everything available to us. He is certainly the best professor I've seen so far, I hope I can take more classes with him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A
March 14, 2020

I'm a sub 3.0 GPA student, and I got an A in this class. His passion for teaching and the subject matter is contagious (I couldn't care less about automation before this class and now I'm hooke). Quite frankly the best professor I've had the pleasure to listen to. I believe every student believes that the grade they get in the class is perfectly justified. The class is designed for you to succeed as long as you put in effort.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: A+
March 13, 2020

Absolutely with no doubt the best professor in the CS department, if you are tired of the unclear and unorganized random lectures from other CS professors, (we all know who they are, no disrespect, but that is torture) welcome to prof. Sherstov's lecture where you will feel like you are still truly loved by the world.
This class is not easy but he made it clear and understandable. He is passionate about his class and he is patient to answer all the questions. There are 10 homeworks that takes 20% of the total grade, but they are grade by effort, so basically just participation points, although understand hw would definitely help with your exams so, try hard.
there are 4 exams which take 80% of total grades. 25 points available but 20 is full credit. So you have some room. The exam is doable if you know the material, and he provides lots of practice exams. Every time before an exam I just took some time to go through the practice exams and I got 21-ish (full credit) for all my exams.
In conclusion, BEST PROFESSOR to me!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: N/A
Dec. 24, 2019

Like others have mentioned, Sherstov is a masterful teacher who knows his stuff and keeps students' attention from the very first day of class to the very last. His philosophy, which I greatly admire, is that "class attendance is earned", meaning that the professor should be the one to motivate students to come to class and learn instead of making attendance mandatory. And boy, does he earn it. He makes the boring stuff come to life. He really explains concepts well. But you'd be fooling yourself if you thought the course was therefore a walk in the park. On the contrary, this was not one of my best courses at UCLA by a longshot, and the fact that the professor is this great of a help instead of a hindrance makes all the difference in the world. The material is hard, and I did find myself struggling on exams sometimes. Practicing with the practice exams he posts online is ESSENTIAL. But the office hours the TA's and Sherstov held were always extremely helpful. The course will start out easy, but you can easily fall behind if you don't keep up with his lecture material. There's so much material, the exams are scheduled on the discussion sections instead of the lectures. For that reason, having exams every 2 weeks did get a bit overwhelming after a while. But I'm incredibly thankful for Sherstov; he's a really great inspiration and I wish all professors in academia (not just from UCLA) were more like him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B
Dec. 2, 2019

Professor Sherstov is an amazing professor. He is energetic, lively, and great at explaining material. He makes the concepts seem easy and does many examples. His breakdown of material is logical and he also is quick to understand where a student's misunderstandings come from. Professor Sherstov's anecdotes also add a very personable touch to the course and are super inspiring! I wish I could have had more professors like him at UCLA. He also hosts office hours all throughout the week the entire quarter for his students and takes so much time out of his schedule to provide such a good class experience. Perhaps the only weakness of the course is that I wish we could have had the lectures placed on bruincast to watch later, and also for classes that I could not make it. They are definitely lectures worth watching again.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 3
4.7
Overall Rating
Based on 37 Users
Easiness 3.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.8 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.6 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.8 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Engaging Lectures
    (17)
  • Would Take Again
    (16)
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