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Brian Shin
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Quick summary: Shin is NOT like what the past reviews said, idk if he changed or what but think twice before taking his class for 33A. (Haven't take final yet so I put incomplete for the grade)
Reason why:
1. Shin's lecture is based on textbook, true, but he is expecting all students to read all chapters of all materials he mentioned in class. This means that even if he just talked about how simple reflection & rotation look like on graph during the lecture, he is expecting you to know and use formula for orthogonal projection on hw and mt1 on week 4, but this content will not be covered in lecture until week 6.
2. Still the lecture problem, Shin likes to break complete chapters into pieces and jump back and forth between theorem and formula from multiple chapters. I feel the only kind of students who can always follow up with his lecture are students who alreay taken 33A. And he has the habit of directly using order of theorem from textbook instead of their actual name, for exmaple, he would say "we use theorem 1.1.1 here" instead of "using basic row operation", making his lecture even more confusing.
3. If the above two are bad, here is the worst: Shin does not tell you what he is expecting you to learn by yourself. The only clue you will get is his hw cause you likely don't know how to do most of the hw problem by just going to lecture. You really have to dig into those problems and see what extra formula or theorem should be used to solve them, then you can start guessing which formula or theorem Shin would expect you to know for exams. (Oh and he did not allow cheat sheet for mt1 and the class average was a disaster, so he allowed an index card for mt2 but made T/F question even harder to compensate) You might think asking him about this will solve the prblem, but NO. There was a student asking him explicitly about a method he never mentioned but appeared on hw multiple times and seems important and convenient enough to be discussed during lecture, but he answered back with "No, we are not going to talk about this", and later this appears on mt LOL.
Final advise: If you have to take Shin's 33A for whatever reason, at least try to enroll in Latha's section. He is our TA and he is soooooo nice and helpful. I honestly think he is a better lecturer than Shin for this course and he helped a lot.
After a year at UCLA, Professor Shin is still the most engaging and thorough instructors I have had. Even though lectures aren't recorded, attending class was still enjoyable. In terms of difficulty, the midterm and final were not too bad.
Shin is the GOAT. Exams are mostly straightforward and predictable. As long as you can do the lecture problems he does in class you can pull through with a B+/A- on the exams. True/false are a bit tricky and honestly i threw those bc I had other classes to study for. He assigns 2 question take home quizzes every week, but I would just make friends and so each of you can take turns opening the quizzes first each week. He also dropped 2 homeworks and a quiz I think which was cool. Hw & take home quizzes are graded on accuracy. Would take again.
Shin was a great professor for Math 33A! He was clear, understanding, and always helpful. His lectures were based on the textbook but explained much better, so I did not have to read it for this class. The quizzes were pretty easy, too, but the homework was fairly challenging. However, if you can do the homework problems, the exams should be fairly easy, too. Shin's exam grading structure is pretty standard to the 33 series (you can drop one midterm for greater weightage on the final). Doing ALL homework problems (even the optional ones) is how I prepared for the exams. Overall, I thought the first midterm was VERY easy, with the second one being a bit harder (more computationally challenging/time-consuming). The final was fair but not easy. The true/false is somewhat difficult/requires intuition beyond the lecture notes. However, Shin is definitely one of the better (and easier) 33A professors with fair grading and tests so I would recommend taking the class with him.
Dr. Shin is fantastic. He's a very clear, straightforward, and entertaining lecturer. If you're coming from either of the 32 series classes, this class is really easy. I got an A- because I had a really rough quarter, so I barely studied and did not keep up with the work. If I could get an A- barely putting in effort, you'll be fine if you study. This class is very "applications based" in the sense that you're doing work without really understanding what it is you're doing, why it's useful, or why it matters. It's a lot of memorizing how to do problems and just understanding the nuances of how problems change. The homework is the most difficult part of the class. If you can do the homework, you should be fine on exams. The quizzes are reflective of the multiple choice questions on exams, and that's about it. Discussion is optional in the sense that there's no participation grade. I don't think you need to read the textbook, but I found it helpful to go over theorems in a different way. Overall, a great class, although it's very different from the 32 series where you really need to understand the concepts in order to do well.
Honestly? Shin is a pretty damn good professor. I'd say that he's probably the only Math 30 series professor that I've liked. While the content can be conceptually difficult, he breaks down definitions, steps, and problems in a way that is extremely digestible. It's obvious that he really cares about student learning and is passionate about what he does.
The class was set up in a way that I believe really promoted learning instead of just cramming. We had 10 homework assignments (two lowest dropped), 7 online quizzes (two lowest dropped), and 3 exams (one of the midterms could be dropped). Some of the homework assignments were a bit challenging, but they were relatively short and could--for the most part--be completed by integrating concepts from his lecture notes and the textbook. He maintained a class Campuswire in which students could help each other on the assignments and exam preparation, and both him and the TAs were quite active on it, too. Also, he provided lots of extra practice problems for each HW assignment, which is probably the best way to review/practice for exams. The quizzes each had 2 multiple choice questions and a time limit of 10 minutes; they were a great way to get quick feedback on your understanding of the content without impacting your grade that much. I believe the exams were fair, but they were not necessarily easy. The two midterms were quite similar to the homework but were very time-pressured and computationally-heavy. The final was a lot less time pressured, but some of the true-false questions were very tricky because they relied on intuition not explicitly covered in class or the textbook. Ultimately, the exam averages were typically around the low 80s, which is pretty standard for STEM courses.
Whether you are a physical science/engineering major or someone who wants to take this class for a minor/your personal interest, I'd highly recommend taking it with Shin. One thing I will say is that if you aren't a physical science/engineering major, this class may not be the easy A that you'd expect it to be. I'm a Cogsci major who took this class for personal interest (without having done Math 32A/B), and I had to work really hard to get below average on the first midterm and slightly above average on the second midterm and final. You definitely still have to try, but it'll be worth it in the end!
Hot take but I think Shin is a little overrated. He is a good professor and really good at explaining concepts during lectures but he's not perfect. Although he is good at lecturing, the lectures do not cover all the information you need in the class and you need to do your own studying and reading of the textbook to supplement the lectures and he himself let us know during office hours. However, it would've been nice to know that without having to go to office hours. Despite this, Shin is still a really good professor and is extremely fair on his midterms and finals in my opinion. If you understand and can solve all the homework problems, you should be able to get a 100% on the tests (other than the multiple choice questions that are extremely conceptual).
Shin is a very reasonable professor with clear expectations. His lectures are clear to understand and he posts lecture notes after, so you don't really need to show up. His exams were very fair. If you studied the notes and did the homework, you should do well in the class. Highly recommend this class with Shin.
I love Professor Shin. Despite not getting an A, I still felt like I learned a lot from him and would definitely recommend. He goes over the information at an appropriate pace and while lectures aren't required, I think it's worthwhile to go. His exams are a bit tough but the lecture notes are very well written. Overall, Shin is a very very good professor.
Quick summary: Shin is NOT like what the past reviews said, idk if he changed or what but think twice before taking his class for 33A. (Haven't take final yet so I put incomplete for the grade)
Reason why:
1. Shin's lecture is based on textbook, true, but he is expecting all students to read all chapters of all materials he mentioned in class. This means that even if he just talked about how simple reflection & rotation look like on graph during the lecture, he is expecting you to know and use formula for orthogonal projection on hw and mt1 on week 4, but this content will not be covered in lecture until week 6.
2. Still the lecture problem, Shin likes to break complete chapters into pieces and jump back and forth between theorem and formula from multiple chapters. I feel the only kind of students who can always follow up with his lecture are students who alreay taken 33A. And he has the habit of directly using order of theorem from textbook instead of their actual name, for exmaple, he would say "we use theorem 1.1.1 here" instead of "using basic row operation", making his lecture even more confusing.
3. If the above two are bad, here is the worst: Shin does not tell you what he is expecting you to learn by yourself. The only clue you will get is his hw cause you likely don't know how to do most of the hw problem by just going to lecture. You really have to dig into those problems and see what extra formula or theorem should be used to solve them, then you can start guessing which formula or theorem Shin would expect you to know for exams. (Oh and he did not allow cheat sheet for mt1 and the class average was a disaster, so he allowed an index card for mt2 but made T/F question even harder to compensate) You might think asking him about this will solve the prblem, but NO. There was a student asking him explicitly about a method he never mentioned but appeared on hw multiple times and seems important and convenient enough to be discussed during lecture, but he answered back with "No, we are not going to talk about this", and later this appears on mt LOL.
Final advise: If you have to take Shin's 33A for whatever reason, at least try to enroll in Latha's section. He is our TA and he is soooooo nice and helpful. I honestly think he is a better lecturer than Shin for this course and he helped a lot.
After a year at UCLA, Professor Shin is still the most engaging and thorough instructors I have had. Even though lectures aren't recorded, attending class was still enjoyable. In terms of difficulty, the midterm and final were not too bad.
Shin is the GOAT. Exams are mostly straightforward and predictable. As long as you can do the lecture problems he does in class you can pull through with a B+/A- on the exams. True/false are a bit tricky and honestly i threw those bc I had other classes to study for. He assigns 2 question take home quizzes every week, but I would just make friends and so each of you can take turns opening the quizzes first each week. He also dropped 2 homeworks and a quiz I think which was cool. Hw & take home quizzes are graded on accuracy. Would take again.
Shin was a great professor for Math 33A! He was clear, understanding, and always helpful. His lectures were based on the textbook but explained much better, so I did not have to read it for this class. The quizzes were pretty easy, too, but the homework was fairly challenging. However, if you can do the homework problems, the exams should be fairly easy, too. Shin's exam grading structure is pretty standard to the 33 series (you can drop one midterm for greater weightage on the final). Doing ALL homework problems (even the optional ones) is how I prepared for the exams. Overall, I thought the first midterm was VERY easy, with the second one being a bit harder (more computationally challenging/time-consuming). The final was fair but not easy. The true/false is somewhat difficult/requires intuition beyond the lecture notes. However, Shin is definitely one of the better (and easier) 33A professors with fair grading and tests so I would recommend taking the class with him.
Dr. Shin is fantastic. He's a very clear, straightforward, and entertaining lecturer. If you're coming from either of the 32 series classes, this class is really easy. I got an A- because I had a really rough quarter, so I barely studied and did not keep up with the work. If I could get an A- barely putting in effort, you'll be fine if you study. This class is very "applications based" in the sense that you're doing work without really understanding what it is you're doing, why it's useful, or why it matters. It's a lot of memorizing how to do problems and just understanding the nuances of how problems change. The homework is the most difficult part of the class. If you can do the homework, you should be fine on exams. The quizzes are reflective of the multiple choice questions on exams, and that's about it. Discussion is optional in the sense that there's no participation grade. I don't think you need to read the textbook, but I found it helpful to go over theorems in a different way. Overall, a great class, although it's very different from the 32 series where you really need to understand the concepts in order to do well.
Honestly? Shin is a pretty damn good professor. I'd say that he's probably the only Math 30 series professor that I've liked. While the content can be conceptually difficult, he breaks down definitions, steps, and problems in a way that is extremely digestible. It's obvious that he really cares about student learning and is passionate about what he does.
The class was set up in a way that I believe really promoted learning instead of just cramming. We had 10 homework assignments (two lowest dropped), 7 online quizzes (two lowest dropped), and 3 exams (one of the midterms could be dropped). Some of the homework assignments were a bit challenging, but they were relatively short and could--for the most part--be completed by integrating concepts from his lecture notes and the textbook. He maintained a class Campuswire in which students could help each other on the assignments and exam preparation, and both him and the TAs were quite active on it, too. Also, he provided lots of extra practice problems for each HW assignment, which is probably the best way to review/practice for exams. The quizzes each had 2 multiple choice questions and a time limit of 10 minutes; they were a great way to get quick feedback on your understanding of the content without impacting your grade that much. I believe the exams were fair, but they were not necessarily easy. The two midterms were quite similar to the homework but were very time-pressured and computationally-heavy. The final was a lot less time pressured, but some of the true-false questions were very tricky because they relied on intuition not explicitly covered in class or the textbook. Ultimately, the exam averages were typically around the low 80s, which is pretty standard for STEM courses.
Whether you are a physical science/engineering major or someone who wants to take this class for a minor/your personal interest, I'd highly recommend taking it with Shin. One thing I will say is that if you aren't a physical science/engineering major, this class may not be the easy A that you'd expect it to be. I'm a Cogsci major who took this class for personal interest (without having done Math 32A/B), and I had to work really hard to get below average on the first midterm and slightly above average on the second midterm and final. You definitely still have to try, but it'll be worth it in the end!
Hot take but I think Shin is a little overrated. He is a good professor and really good at explaining concepts during lectures but he's not perfect. Although he is good at lecturing, the lectures do not cover all the information you need in the class and you need to do your own studying and reading of the textbook to supplement the lectures and he himself let us know during office hours. However, it would've been nice to know that without having to go to office hours. Despite this, Shin is still a really good professor and is extremely fair on his midterms and finals in my opinion. If you understand and can solve all the homework problems, you should be able to get a 100% on the tests (other than the multiple choice questions that are extremely conceptual).
Shin is a very reasonable professor with clear expectations. His lectures are clear to understand and he posts lecture notes after, so you don't really need to show up. His exams were very fair. If you studied the notes and did the homework, you should do well in the class. Highly recommend this class with Shin.
I love Professor Shin. Despite not getting an A, I still felt like I learned a lot from him and would definitely recommend. He goes over the information at an appropriate pace and while lectures aren't required, I think it's worthwhile to go. His exams are a bit tough but the lecture notes are very well written. Overall, Shin is a very very good professor.