The class consisted of about 8 assignments spread out over the quarter, and one final project. The class was fairly straightforward, but without previous computer programming experience, I can see how this class can seem overwhelming. That being said, be sure to make the most of both the instructor and TA office hours, they are very willing to help, even proofread your code.

Dr. Gao is a very good lecturer, who definitely knows his stuff about MATLAB. The lectures are actually highly engaging, but due to the format of the class, there's little need to actually go to them if you have any coding background (which is quite a shame, because he's a REALLY good lecturer).
Dr. Gao gives the standard powerpoint lectures alongside the standard "code as you teach" thing many CS professors do, so most students don't go to lecture. I mainly went to the lab sections instead.
The class is graded purely on homework, so you only need to be able to code well. I personally found the homeworks to be much easier than CS 31 homework, for example. In fact, for all but one homework and the final project, you're even given the algorithm to code about one week BEFORE the homework is due. The only issue with the homework is that the directions are unclear. Also, there are numerous extra credit opportunities for this class, in case you lose points.
There's a reason why the vast majority of students get A's in Gao's class; the grading scheme really favors students getting A's. So take this guy's class if you have to/have the option to take MATLAB with him.

Gao is pretty good. MATLAB in itself is just very interesting. There is no midterm, just weekly projects. The projects imo are very good practices. He is also very happy to help with any questions you might have. Overall, he cares about his students and tries to present the material as clearly as possible.

Easy A, actually learning a useful skill to apply to other engineering classes, and no test so low stress makes this the best engineering class on campus. If you have any idea how to code you don't need to go to lecture, just don't start the project at the last minute all commands can be learned on google. Also the reports are graded very easily as long as your code gives right answers, so don't worry about being professional. Only key is to take the class with a friend to check and make sure the outputs for each project are the same, you probably got the code right then. Grade is all project based on your code, all individual projects so you do not have to worry about working with others and he offers over 10% extra credit at the end and still uses straight scale grading. Couldn't ask for a better class.

I took this class online asynchronous. We had 6 HW assignments, 8 quizzes, and a final project (2 weeks to complete). Although a lot of the homework assignments seemed confusing at first glance, Professor Gao was very helpful during office hours with answering questions as well as checking over people's code. Although I'm not particularly good at coding, the professor's (and TA's!) feedback made the assignments much easier. For each assignment, we had to submit both the code and a report. I found the reports very tedious but not difficult. Overall, this class was pretty decent, although I'm not sure I would have liked it as much if it were in-person.

Class was pretty easy. Weekly assignments and homework were time consuming but they graded very leniently. Final project was a nightmare because it was so much work. If you had any CAD experience from any engineering clubs the labs should we easy.

Prof Gao was great -- super, super helpful and very understanding. The class taught SolidWorks extremely well -- which is very helpful as a MechE student if you're looking for research or an internship. The group project was a nightmare (mostly because of my group), but they grade everything very nicely so it was not a lot of stress. The class was a lot of work -- there were a lot of assignments that took a lot of time, but it's hard to teach a whole program in 10 weeks, so given that Prof Gao did a great job.

This class reminded me of high school math classes. The material and workload aren't too bad, but it's really important that you're consistent with all the computations you're making and don't make mistakes. His lectures can be dry and based off the textbook, but I personally found going to lecture worth it. Definitely the most straightforward math class I've taken at UCLA.

Great professor with VERY informative slides. Took m20 as my first programming class and had no problems. Again, the slides can serve as your "textbook" as they are very straightforward and directly relate to the homework projects. There are no exams, but you do have weekly projects. Difficulty picks up as you near the final project, but if you did well and understand the homework projects, you'll do well. There are also several extra credit opportunities to make up for lost points. Hope this helps!

The class is very time consuming when it comes to the projects (especially the final project). However, as a person who is not very good at coding, I would suggest you pick this class any day over CS31. I took both and found M20 to be slower paced, and not having tricky midterms or finals definitely makes it preferable. This class will require some work if you don't have a great understanding with coding, but the TAs lab sections are super helpful, make sure to attend those. Also, don't save your project for last minute as office hours are before the due date.