Professor

Jose Ramon Madrid Padilla

AD
3.1
Overall Ratings
Based on 91 Users
Easiness 2.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.6 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.6 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 3.0 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (91)

3 of 7
3 of 7
Add your review...
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 30, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A

Although at first, his lectures were hard to follow as he went quite fast, in the end, he made sure that everyone understood, and I really liked this professor. Homeworks were given every 2 weeks and his tests were overall very simple and straightforward. If you do your homework and attend lectures, it was easy. He does have an accent that made certain parts of the lecture challenging but it wasn't too bad, and you get used to it too. Overall, I enjoyed this class and its materials, and the professor was lenient with grades (due to the coronavirus).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 2, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B+

I took this class when remote instruction was first offered and it was rough at times. Jose talks fast and the audio was not too clear, although he did listen and improved afterwards. The tests were open-notes timed, with midterms being 2 hours and the finals 24 hours, and while difficult, was manageable (although the second midterm was noticeable harder than the first). He was very accommodating for the situation however, curving the class and making the finals more application than conceptual. The homework was on a biweekly schedule and was comparable to math 32 series. My TA Talon was extremely helpful and answered any questions that we had. Overall it was a decent class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 2, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B+

Took this class online during COVID.
Professor Madrid Padilla is a terrible lecturer, moving at a pace that left everyone confused. His explanations of the material were overall poor and despite sending him many emails he never responded to me. The first midterm was reasonable but the second one was the hardest test I have ever taken which is how he intentionally designed it because people were doing too well. Overall I would NOT recommend taking any class with this professor as you will leave more confused than you were when you started.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 25, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A

Analysis is a hard class, especially during the 6-week summer session. Even though Professor Jose has accents, but he is very helpful: he is willing to spend much after-class time on answering questions, and also provides us with useful PPTs.

The tests are hard, but managable during a 24-hour period (we had take-home exams during the pandemic). The homework is quite easy, as they all come from the textbook.

Be prepared to learn a lot of knowledge, and spend much time on the material. As long as you follow the pace of the class, getting an A is possible.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 2, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B-

The prof had a habit of speeding through the materials hella fast. I thought it was out of nervousness in week 1, but it kept going even with students continuously asking him to slow down, so we all unanimously gave up trying to remind him. By the time week 3 rolled around I had no idea what I was doing, so I gave up and followed the textbook instead, which was a lot more helpful and provided a variety of examples. Some methods they used were over-complicated though, like the bit on determinants of massive matrices, so I suggest you go to Khan Academy if you're stuck because they have a lot of resources as always.
First midterm was totally fine, and I accidentally missed the second midterm due to being overseas this quarter, but I heard it got quite difficult and people complained. I asked the prof if there was any way that I could retake the midterm, but he said no and that my excuse wasn't good enough and that he would talk with the department about it, which is fair enough. I didn't get a response for a few weeks though, so when I followed him up about it in week 10 he quite readily allowed my grade for my final to be the grade for my second midterm was well, which was nice.
Homework was pretty standard, everything came from the textbook, and were due once every two weeks. If you're stuck, look over the examples in that chapter and you'll find something very similar to imitate. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the textbook answers are on Sl*der.
Overall, the class content itself wasn't that complicated, especially if you have a good grasp of basic algebra and simultaneous equations, but the prof made things a bit difficult.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 26, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

I took Math 31B with Padilla Winter Quarter 2020-21. While obviously remote learning hinders the ability of professors to actively teach and engage students, I felt that Professor Padilla made effort to help his students during lecture, and especially being extremely available and helpful in office hours.

The grading in general was significantly more lenient than I have heard it typically is - 24 hour exams and dropping lowest HW grade helped. I feel that Prof. Padilla taught an often challenging and unintuitive class quite well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 27, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

I thought this class was alright. Dr. Padilla is an okay lecturer but his lectures can be confusing sometimes. The homework was on the lighter side and the lowest grade is dropped. The first midterm was easy. However, the second midterm and the final were tricker. It was still straightforward mostly but there were one or two questions that were tricky. Despite this, I still managed to do well enough on those to earn high grades on the exams. I would highly recommend Michael Johnson as your TA he was very nice and very helpful. I also heard he did curve grades at the end a bit.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 27, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B

Overall, the materials for this course wasn't hard, however the exams made it quite difficult for people of all skill levels. Personally, I struggled due to exams being AP style grading (meaning that you had to be super specific in your answers, show a ridiculous amount of work, and spell out every single step you took or else you wouldn't get full credit). Normally, this would have been ok, however the midterms and finals were out of only 40 points. (If you took calc BC in hs like I did and are taking the course because you got below a 5 on the exam, you have to act as though you've never learned calc before on the exams in order to get 100%. Any knowledge you have from calc BC will not count as credit on the exams.)

Lectures were helpful. Padilla explains what you need to know then teaches by example. Then the TAs would give further examples/the ability to ask questions during discussion sections which helped to solidify any knowledge. I can't say anything about office hours, as I didn't attend any.

For the first midterm there was a problem taken directly out of the textbook with a given formula for the solution. I ended up losing 13% on the midterm due to knowing a formula from the textbook. When I brought this up to the grader, I was told that I didn't show true mastery of the material, even though the textbook gave me the formula to use. Furthermore, I continuously lost points for not showing simple calculations, such as a one-step u-substitution. This would normally be fine, however once again the midterms and finals had such few points available that losing any would drastically harm your grade. Lastly, the exams were significantly harder than the homework, and would often times include questions with complex solutions that the class had zero exposure to either within lecture, homework, or the textbook.

However, some positives are that there is quite a light workload when it came to homework and homework is pretty easy overall. Furthermore, Padilla/the graders gave you all of your grades by the end of the class, including the final exam grade (which is something previous math teachers I've had failed to do). With any grade on gradescope Padilla and the graders would regrade any requests and give you adequate responses to your request, should you ask for it. My TA was wonderful in explaining questions in depth and in teaching us needed material when class slowed a bit. Lastly, the class was curved really well in the end. Raw percent wise I would've landed pretty squarely in the C range, however I ended the course with a B which is nice. I can't explain how much of a curve was given, but it's pretty generous to boost my grade a whole letter.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 28, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

i took calc BC in high school and i managed fine not even going to lectures. the tests weren't hard and my TA wasn't a bad grader so it wasn't too bad. but supposedly most of the TA's grading was pretty awful and since the tests were only out of 40 points little mistakes knocked your grade down a lot. the professor was also so hard to reach and never responded to his emails so it was pretty hard to communicate about anything. probably not a good idea to take this class if you haven't taken calc in the past or have a strict TA. definitely take it with Michael Johnson (TA) if you can he was super helpful.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 29, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

Overall, this class was decent. It was a little hard to understand professor Padilla at times, but it was manageable. Sometimes he goes off on a tangent/goes over stuff that isn't really relevant to the course material. However, his tests were really straightforward and easy. Due to COVID these were also 24 hrs, which made it better. He wasn't the best at responding to emails, but all of the TA's were. He may not be the BEST math professor, but he is pretty decent.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: A
June 30, 2020

Although at first, his lectures were hard to follow as he went quite fast, in the end, he made sure that everyone understood, and I really liked this professor. Homeworks were given every 2 weeks and his tests were overall very simple and straightforward. If you do your homework and attend lectures, it was easy. He does have an accent that made certain parts of the lecture challenging but it wasn't too bad, and you get used to it too. Overall, I enjoyed this class and its materials, and the professor was lenient with grades (due to the coronavirus).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B+
July 2, 2020

I took this class when remote instruction was first offered and it was rough at times. Jose talks fast and the audio was not too clear, although he did listen and improved afterwards. The tests were open-notes timed, with midterms being 2 hours and the finals 24 hours, and while difficult, was manageable (although the second midterm was noticeable harder than the first). He was very accommodating for the situation however, curving the class and making the finals more application than conceptual. The homework was on a biweekly schedule and was comparable to math 32 series. My TA Talon was extremely helpful and answered any questions that we had. Overall it was a decent class.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B+
July 2, 2020

Took this class online during COVID.
Professor Madrid Padilla is a terrible lecturer, moving at a pace that left everyone confused. His explanations of the material were overall poor and despite sending him many emails he never responded to me. The first midterm was reasonable but the second one was the hardest test I have ever taken which is how he intentionally designed it because people were doing too well. Overall I would NOT recommend taking any class with this professor as you will leave more confused than you were when you started.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
Aug. 25, 2020

Analysis is a hard class, especially during the 6-week summer session. Even though Professor Jose has accents, but he is very helpful: he is willing to spend much after-class time on answering questions, and also provides us with useful PPTs.

The tests are hard, but managable during a 24-hour period (we had take-home exams during the pandemic). The homework is quite easy, as they all come from the textbook.

Be prepared to learn a lot of knowledge, and spend much time on the material. As long as you follow the pace of the class, getting an A is possible.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: B-
Dec. 2, 2020

The prof had a habit of speeding through the materials hella fast. I thought it was out of nervousness in week 1, but it kept going even with students continuously asking him to slow down, so we all unanimously gave up trying to remind him. By the time week 3 rolled around I had no idea what I was doing, so I gave up and followed the textbook instead, which was a lot more helpful and provided a variety of examples. Some methods they used were over-complicated though, like the bit on determinants of massive matrices, so I suggest you go to Khan Academy if you're stuck because they have a lot of resources as always.
First midterm was totally fine, and I accidentally missed the second midterm due to being overseas this quarter, but I heard it got quite difficult and people complained. I asked the prof if there was any way that I could retake the midterm, but he said no and that my excuse wasn't good enough and that he would talk with the department about it, which is fair enough. I didn't get a response for a few weeks though, so when I followed him up about it in week 10 he quite readily allowed my grade for my final to be the grade for my second midterm was well, which was nice.
Homework was pretty standard, everything came from the textbook, and were due once every two weeks. If you're stuck, look over the examples in that chapter and you'll find something very similar to imitate. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the textbook answers are on Sl*der.
Overall, the class content itself wasn't that complicated, especially if you have a good grasp of basic algebra and simultaneous equations, but the prof made things a bit difficult.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 26, 2021

I took Math 31B with Padilla Winter Quarter 2020-21. While obviously remote learning hinders the ability of professors to actively teach and engage students, I felt that Professor Padilla made effort to help his students during lecture, and especially being extremely available and helpful in office hours.

The grading in general was significantly more lenient than I have heard it typically is - 24 hour exams and dropping lowest HW grade helped. I feel that Prof. Padilla taught an often challenging and unintuitive class quite well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 27, 2021

I thought this class was alright. Dr. Padilla is an okay lecturer but his lectures can be confusing sometimes. The homework was on the lighter side and the lowest grade is dropped. The first midterm was easy. However, the second midterm and the final were tricker. It was still straightforward mostly but there were one or two questions that were tricky. Despite this, I still managed to do well enough on those to earn high grades on the exams. I would highly recommend Michael Johnson as your TA he was very nice and very helpful. I also heard he did curve grades at the end a bit.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: B
March 27, 2021

Overall, the materials for this course wasn't hard, however the exams made it quite difficult for people of all skill levels. Personally, I struggled due to exams being AP style grading (meaning that you had to be super specific in your answers, show a ridiculous amount of work, and spell out every single step you took or else you wouldn't get full credit). Normally, this would have been ok, however the midterms and finals were out of only 40 points. (If you took calc BC in hs like I did and are taking the course because you got below a 5 on the exam, you have to act as though you've never learned calc before on the exams in order to get 100%. Any knowledge you have from calc BC will not count as credit on the exams.)

Lectures were helpful. Padilla explains what you need to know then teaches by example. Then the TAs would give further examples/the ability to ask questions during discussion sections which helped to solidify any knowledge. I can't say anything about office hours, as I didn't attend any.

For the first midterm there was a problem taken directly out of the textbook with a given formula for the solution. I ended up losing 13% on the midterm due to knowing a formula from the textbook. When I brought this up to the grader, I was told that I didn't show true mastery of the material, even though the textbook gave me the formula to use. Furthermore, I continuously lost points for not showing simple calculations, such as a one-step u-substitution. This would normally be fine, however once again the midterms and finals had such few points available that losing any would drastically harm your grade. Lastly, the exams were significantly harder than the homework, and would often times include questions with complex solutions that the class had zero exposure to either within lecture, homework, or the textbook.

However, some positives are that there is quite a light workload when it came to homework and homework is pretty easy overall. Furthermore, Padilla/the graders gave you all of your grades by the end of the class, including the final exam grade (which is something previous math teachers I've had failed to do). With any grade on gradescope Padilla and the graders would regrade any requests and give you adequate responses to your request, should you ask for it. My TA was wonderful in explaining questions in depth and in teaching us needed material when class slowed a bit. Lastly, the class was curved really well in the end. Raw percent wise I would've landed pretty squarely in the C range, however I ended the course with a B which is nice. I can't explain how much of a curve was given, but it's pretty generous to boost my grade a whole letter.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 28, 2021

i took calc BC in high school and i managed fine not even going to lectures. the tests weren't hard and my TA wasn't a bad grader so it wasn't too bad. but supposedly most of the TA's grading was pretty awful and since the tests were only out of 40 points little mistakes knocked your grade down a lot. the professor was also so hard to reach and never responded to his emails so it was pretty hard to communicate about anything. probably not a good idea to take this class if you haven't taken calc in the past or have a strict TA. definitely take it with Michael Johnson (TA) if you can he was super helpful.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 31B
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 29, 2021

Overall, this class was decent. It was a little hard to understand professor Padilla at times, but it was manageable. Sometimes he goes off on a tangent/goes over stuff that isn't really relevant to the course material. However, his tests were really straightforward and easy. Due to COVID these were also 24 hrs, which made it better. He wasn't the best at responding to emails, but all of the TA's were. He may not be the BEST math professor, but he is pretty decent.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
3 of 7
ADS

Adblock Detected

Bruinwalk is an entirely Daily Bruin-run service brought to you for free. We hate annoying ads just as much as you do, but they help keep our lights on. We promise to keep our ads as relevant for you as possible, so please consider disabling your ad-blocking software while using this site.

Thank you for supporting us!