Isaac M. Goldbring
Department of Mathematics
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3.7
Overall Rating
Based on 15 Users
Easiness 1.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.3 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 1.9 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
15.4%
12.8%
10.3%
7.7%
5.1%
2.6%
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.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
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Reviews (8)

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Jan. 11, 2011

I loved Professor Goldbring. I know he gives out hard midterms but it doesn't really matter if no one did well. He will give a pretty generous curve in the end. One thing I like about this professor is that he is very organized and clear in lectures, and it makes learning so much easier. Loved his lectures. I will recommend taking him.

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Quarter: N/A
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Jan. 8, 2011

Goldbring is a middle of the road professor, hes definitely not the best ive had by a longshot but you could certainly do a whole lot worse. What bothered me most was that his tests were inconsistent. Namely the first midterm was pretty straight forward, it was similar to HW and rather straightforward. However, the second midterm was anything but straightforward. Nearly half the test was conceptual questions and proofs with few parallels in the homework. It caught me off guard since i was expecting a test on the level of the first midterm. The final however was like the first midterm, straightforward with no conceptual questions. His tests feel more like they depend more on his mood than anything else. Having one midterm loaded with conceptual questions while leaving the midterm and final nearly devoid of conceptual questions makes it hard to know what to study and what not to. Overall, i wouldn't call his tests unfair, but they sometimes ask questions that require very particular knowledge of the chapter that you might not fully develop if you just do the homework problems or simply forget it. He is manageable if you just want to pass, but if you really want an A be prepared to do all the homework, extra problems from the chapters, and basically memorize every proof in each chapter.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 22, 2010

His lectures are basically a hand cramp because he uses a lot of words in his notes. His tests are ridiculously difficult, most averages between 50-65 %. Homework is long but manageable. I personally didnt have a great experience with this professor and recommend taking another. He also does not curve every midterm ( in my case neither midterm) which really was a buzzkill. Not very great but not the worst.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 10, 2010

Goldbring is a fairly effective lecturer and gives a fair workload. The only word of advice I'd give students is to be wary of his exams, which are rather more difficult than he makes them out to be -- the problems are related to the homework, but not similar enough to allow adequate preparation through practice. This issue is compounded by the fact that he doesn't give out practice exams.

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Sept. 8, 2010

I took Math 33B with Professor Goldbring, during summer session C. As an introductory course, Math 33B is probably not going to be the most difficult math course you have taken. The textbook, Polking's Differential Equations, is extremely user-friendly, probably even more so than Stewart's Calculus, and Professor Goldbring's grading was more than fair. I assume that most students taking this course are doing so because it is a requirement for their major; probably in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics, or Engineering. With that said, I don't think that many could ask for a better Professor for this course than Professor Goldbring, and I would certainly seek him out. His exams are fair, his lectures are clear, and he is extremely approachable; in short, if you take this class with him, it will not become one of those pre-major courses which are far more difficult and time-consuming than they are worth to you.
On the other hand, if you are a Math major as I am, you will be pleased to find that Professor Goldbring is not shy about expanding on more interesting or advanced concepts, and his approachability will certainly serve you in that regard.
Overall, my experience with this class was excellent, and I would not hesitate to recommend Professor Goldbring to anyone.

Helpful?

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Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 27, 2010

Professor Goldbring is a great professor. Sure, he does take examples from the book, but what math professor doesn't these days? He really does know his stuff though; if you go to office hours and get to know him, you'll see that he genuinely cares about his students' learning. On his exams, which are comprised of 5-6 questions each, he would take about 1 or 2 problems straight from the homework. If you know how to do the homework, you will be fine for his exams. Initially, he graded using a standard 100% scale (90-100 for an A, 80-90 for a B, etc) but after the final, he curved our final scores. I wouldn't hesitate taking another course from Professor Goldbring.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 18, 2010

Okay, I do not think Dr. Goldbring is as bad as everyone is making him out to be. I found him to be an enjoyable 33B professor who showed an obvious amount of care for his students. Yes, a lot of his teaching is straight from the book, but the Differential Equations textbook is definitely not very good at explaining the material. That said, I believe Dr. Goldbring did an excellent job filling in the gaps, and I found his lectures extremely helpful and informative. His tests were challenging, but a couple of the questions came from the later exercises in the book. My only problem with this class was the amount of homework Dr. Goldbring assigned. For some sections, we would have to do the majority of the even problems which can be tedious because some sections were pretty straight forward or very work intensive. Also, he seemed to grade only five homework problems and those were typically the more difficult problems of the assignment. The mean for our first midterm was 70/100, the mean for our second midterm was 74/100 and the mean for our final was 133/200. And like most math teachers, there was a curve at the end of the class. Overall, Dr. Goldbring is a good teacher who expects you to work hard.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
May 23, 2010

Goldbring is an unfair and unjust professor who has a binary grading scheme and doesn't curve the class. I missed two negatives and that took me from a B+ to a D- on the first midterm. ON the second midterm i ran out of time but described what i would have done which was correct and i ended up getting a 53 on that test. This guy is a jerk and pretty much reads verbatim from the book and uses those examples too. If you go to office hours he just repeats what he says in lecture and says nothing of use and nothing new. He is not helpful and doesnt care whether you know the material or not just if you come out with the right answer.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Jan. 11, 2011

I loved Professor Goldbring. I know he gives out hard midterms but it doesn't really matter if no one did well. He will give a pretty generous curve in the end. One thing I like about this professor is that he is very organized and clear in lectures, and it makes learning so much easier. Loved his lectures. I will recommend taking him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Jan. 8, 2011

Goldbring is a middle of the road professor, hes definitely not the best ive had by a longshot but you could certainly do a whole lot worse. What bothered me most was that his tests were inconsistent. Namely the first midterm was pretty straight forward, it was similar to HW and rather straightforward. However, the second midterm was anything but straightforward. Nearly half the test was conceptual questions and proofs with few parallels in the homework. It caught me off guard since i was expecting a test on the level of the first midterm. The final however was like the first midterm, straightforward with no conceptual questions. His tests feel more like they depend more on his mood than anything else. Having one midterm loaded with conceptual questions while leaving the midterm and final nearly devoid of conceptual questions makes it hard to know what to study and what not to. Overall, i wouldn't call his tests unfair, but they sometimes ask questions that require very particular knowledge of the chapter that you might not fully develop if you just do the homework problems or simply forget it. He is manageable if you just want to pass, but if you really want an A be prepared to do all the homework, extra problems from the chapters, and basically memorize every proof in each chapter.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 22, 2010

His lectures are basically a hand cramp because he uses a lot of words in his notes. His tests are ridiculously difficult, most averages between 50-65 %. Homework is long but manageable. I personally didnt have a great experience with this professor and recommend taking another. He also does not curve every midterm ( in my case neither midterm) which really was a buzzkill. Not very great but not the worst.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Dec. 10, 2010

Goldbring is a fairly effective lecturer and gives a fair workload. The only word of advice I'd give students is to be wary of his exams, which are rather more difficult than he makes them out to be -- the problems are related to the homework, but not similar enough to allow adequate preparation through practice. This issue is compounded by the fact that he doesn't give out practice exams.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
Sept. 8, 2010

I took Math 33B with Professor Goldbring, during summer session C. As an introductory course, Math 33B is probably not going to be the most difficult math course you have taken. The textbook, Polking's Differential Equations, is extremely user-friendly, probably even more so than Stewart's Calculus, and Professor Goldbring's grading was more than fair. I assume that most students taking this course are doing so because it is a requirement for their major; probably in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics, or Engineering. With that said, I don't think that many could ask for a better Professor for this course than Professor Goldbring, and I would certainly seek him out. His exams are fair, his lectures are clear, and he is extremely approachable; in short, if you take this class with him, it will not become one of those pre-major courses which are far more difficult and time-consuming than they are worth to you.
On the other hand, if you are a Math major as I am, you will be pleased to find that Professor Goldbring is not shy about expanding on more interesting or advanced concepts, and his approachability will certainly serve you in that regard.
Overall, my experience with this class was excellent, and I would not hesitate to recommend Professor Goldbring to anyone.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 27, 2010

Professor Goldbring is a great professor. Sure, he does take examples from the book, but what math professor doesn't these days? He really does know his stuff though; if you go to office hours and get to know him, you'll see that he genuinely cares about his students' learning. On his exams, which are comprised of 5-6 questions each, he would take about 1 or 2 problems straight from the homework. If you know how to do the homework, you will be fine for his exams. Initially, he graded using a standard 100% scale (90-100 for an A, 80-90 for a B, etc) but after the final, he curved our final scores. I wouldn't hesitate taking another course from Professor Goldbring.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
June 18, 2010

Okay, I do not think Dr. Goldbring is as bad as everyone is making him out to be. I found him to be an enjoyable 33B professor who showed an obvious amount of care for his students. Yes, a lot of his teaching is straight from the book, but the Differential Equations textbook is definitely not very good at explaining the material. That said, I believe Dr. Goldbring did an excellent job filling in the gaps, and I found his lectures extremely helpful and informative. His tests were challenging, but a couple of the questions came from the later exercises in the book. My only problem with this class was the amount of homework Dr. Goldbring assigned. For some sections, we would have to do the majority of the even problems which can be tedious because some sections were pretty straight forward or very work intensive. Also, he seemed to grade only five homework problems and those were typically the more difficult problems of the assignment. The mean for our first midterm was 70/100, the mean for our second midterm was 74/100 and the mean for our final was 133/200. And like most math teachers, there was a curve at the end of the class. Overall, Dr. Goldbring is a good teacher who expects you to work hard.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: N/A
Grade: N/A
May 23, 2010

Goldbring is an unfair and unjust professor who has a binary grading scheme and doesn't curve the class. I missed two negatives and that took me from a B+ to a D- on the first midterm. ON the second midterm i ran out of time but described what i would have done which was correct and i ended up getting a 53 on that test. This guy is a jerk and pretty much reads verbatim from the book and uses those examples too. If you go to office hours he just repeats what he says in lecture and says nothing of use and nothing new. He is not helpful and doesnt care whether you know the material or not just if you come out with the right answer.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 1
3.7
Overall Rating
Based on 15 Users
Easiness 1.6 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.3 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 1.9 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

There are no relevant tags for this professor yet.

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