Jose Ramon Madrid Padilla
Department of Mathematics
AD
2.9
Overall Rating
Based on 58 Users
Easiness 2.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.7 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.7 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Needs Textbook
  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Useful Textbooks
  • Tough Tests
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
38.2%
31.8%
25.5%
19.1%
12.7%
6.4%
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.

16.2%
13.5%
10.8%
8.1%
5.4%
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.

15.5%
12.9%
10.3%
7.7%
5.2%
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
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (37)

2 of 4
2 of 4
Add your review...
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: C+
Feb. 12, 2020

This class in itself is extremely difficult for most people. Jose was very nice and often funny, but he didn't teach his lectures in a very concise manner. He would confuse himself a lot of the time in his own teaching, which would then come off really confusing to the class. The tests were also EXTREMELY hard and had no correlation to one another really. I did awful on one midterm, pretty well on the second, and then absolutely failed the final. Probably a lot of my own fault, but I'd say steer clear of him as a professor altogether if you can.

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Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: B+
March 6, 2020

He's not the BEST professor, but he definitely doesn't deserve as low of a bruinwalk rating as he had when I signed up for this course. I think he is a relatively good lecturer, he knows his stuff, and he explains things well when you ask him directly. The tests are moderately difficult, but he acknowledges it and gives a very fat curve to help you out. You can be successful on his midterms, but you need to really understand how to approach problems that are less intuitive than the homework. Having a good TA really helps. Go with your gut and switch out of a TA that you don't like ASAP because it makes a huge difference.

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2 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
May 31, 2022

Despite getting a low grade in this class, I think Madrid is one of the best professors out there simply because of his kindness and accommodating nature. I was extremely ill during this quarter and scored an 18% on the first midterm and 32% on the second one. Statistically, I should have completely failed this class. However, after talking to him, he was completely understanding and notified me that he will not fail any student who communicates with him and shows improvement. I barely passed the final with a 75% and ended the class with a 78% simply because he felt I showed enough improvement to earn a C+. He also let me take the final exam online to ease any added anxiety and was very understanding throughout the whole quarter. He's just a really nice professor overall, even if he can be difficult to follow sometimes. I would definitely take his class again!

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
April 12, 2022

in fairness he was actually a really nice guy, but a hot mess of a prof. DO NOT TAKE; material is way too hard for a calc 2 class and the exams (especially final) included shit he did not cover in lecture. Wouldnt even release the final exams to see where mistakes were made; unresponsive to emails; overall not a good lecturer

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: B-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Feb. 22, 2022

Was super nice due to the fact that it was the first quarter back from covid. Tests were harder than homework. He was alright at explaining the material. However, would always go overtime and rush to explain his last example. The last few minutes were super confusing.

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Feb. 15, 2022

It's pretty clear that the professor tries hard in class, but class material just does not make any sense to me. Professor's spanish, so maybe that's my fault not understanding his accent, but I could not learn anything in class. Fortunately, I got a pretty good TA and he basically went through all the class material in 50min. Professor never relies email as well. My friend went to him after the exam (the only time that we saw him in person) and he said he did not have time for us and he would reply our email, but he never did. My midterm was a B and a C, but did not know why I got a A- for my final grade. Final exam results were not disclosed, and it was super hard. I have literally done every practice questions in the textbook and still saw questions that I have never heard of in the exam. The final grade was good, but his class is nevertheless not worth it.

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 6, 2022

I absolutely hated this class. I took AP Calculus BC in high school, but 31B was like hell compared to AP Calc. Although lectures were online, the exams were all in person, which I believe is unfair and unreasonable.
Professor Padilla is a disorganized and confusing lecturer; he would jump back and forth between examples and theorems, and he sometimes wouldn't even finish solving the example. Although other students have complained about his accent, I didn't think it was that hard to understand his English... He simply just did not explain the concepts well enough for me to understand.
Homework was reasonable, which just consisted of a bunch of problems from the textbook. I believe your lowest homework grade is dropped.
Exams were AWFUL. They were nothing like the questions from the textbook/lectures; the exam problems were far more complex. Averages were low for the exams.
The only "review" questions that he offers us for the exams were some problems assigned from the textbook, and he didn't even provide an answer key for the problems, so I had no clue if I was even getting the problems right. The only way to check your answer is by comparing with peers or by going to his OH.
The only thing that saved me from actually failing this class was the fat curve at the end of the course, but nobody truly knew their grades until they officially came out.
I would avoid taking this class with this professor. If it is absolutely unavoidable, watch Youtube videos that explain the concepts, read through the textbook, solve extra problems, and work with your TA.

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Jan. 3, 2022

I probably enjoyed this class more than most people. His lectures are not great, just him doing example problems for 50 minutes, but if you can keep up with that, the homework, and the exam review problems you will be fine. Do not snub the exam review problems. He told us that he frequently takes example problems from his lectures and puts them in the exam, so you should consider doing your best to pay attention and take notes during lecture.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Jan. 2, 2022

Padilla is a nice professor, and he clearly cares for his students- but I have to admit he is not great at lecturing and explaining mathematical concepts. The lectures were often very disjointed, with us jumping between different concepts. He often over complicated fairly simple topics, making them very hard to understand. The midterm and finals often covered these nebulous topics, making it significantly harder. The homework was easy, though you definitely need to do additional practice problems to prepare for exams. If you're okay self studying significant portions of the course, this class shouldn't be too hard for you. However I would not rely on Padilla to accurately explain ever concept to its fullest extent- even in office hours. Again, he is a nice professor and clearly wants his students to succeed; his lecturing and explaining skills just are lacking.

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

I took Calc BC in high school and this class was still confusing for me. The professor has an accent that is a bit hard to understand and he doesn't really explain things clearly. If I hadn't taken calc BC I would've been extremely lost. Homework was due every week on Friday at midnight (none on midterms and finals weeks) and it was only about 10 problems or so. Also I noticed he tends to cut students off when they're asking questions. He starts responding before the student even finishes the question and sometimes his response doesn't even answer what the student is asking because of this. Overall, wouldn't recommend but the curve is pretty high because the average on midterms was like 60%.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: C+
Feb. 12, 2020

This class in itself is extremely difficult for most people. Jose was very nice and often funny, but he didn't teach his lectures in a very concise manner. He would confuse himself a lot of the time in his own teaching, which would then come off really confusing to the class. The tests were also EXTREMELY hard and had no correlation to one another really. I did awful on one midterm, pretty well on the second, and then absolutely failed the final. Probably a lot of my own fault, but I'd say steer clear of him as a professor altogether if you can.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2020
Grade: B+
March 6, 2020

He's not the BEST professor, but he definitely doesn't deserve as low of a bruinwalk rating as he had when I signed up for this course. I think he is a relatively good lecturer, he knows his stuff, and he explains things well when you ask him directly. The tests are moderately difficult, but he acknowledges it and gives a very fat curve to help you out. You can be successful on his midterms, but you need to really understand how to approach problems that are less intuitive than the homework. Having a good TA really helps. Go with your gut and switch out of a TA that you don't like ASAP because it makes a huge difference.

Helpful?

2 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C+
May 31, 2022

Despite getting a low grade in this class, I think Madrid is one of the best professors out there simply because of his kindness and accommodating nature. I was extremely ill during this quarter and scored an 18% on the first midterm and 32% on the second one. Statistically, I should have completely failed this class. However, after talking to him, he was completely understanding and notified me that he will not fail any student who communicates with him and shows improvement. I barely passed the final with a 75% and ended the class with a 78% simply because he felt I showed enough improvement to earn a C+. He also let me take the final exam online to ease any added anxiety and was very understanding throughout the whole quarter. He's just a really nice professor overall, even if he can be difficult to follow sometimes. I would definitely take his class again!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A-
April 12, 2022

in fairness he was actually a really nice guy, but a hot mess of a prof. DO NOT TAKE; material is way too hard for a calc 2 class and the exams (especially final) included shit he did not cover in lecture. Wouldnt even release the final exams to see where mistakes were made; unresponsive to emails; overall not a good lecturer

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: B-
Feb. 22, 2022

Was super nice due to the fact that it was the first quarter back from covid. Tests were harder than homework. He was alright at explaining the material. However, would always go overtime and rush to explain his last example. The last few minutes were super confusing.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A-
Feb. 15, 2022

It's pretty clear that the professor tries hard in class, but class material just does not make any sense to me. Professor's spanish, so maybe that's my fault not understanding his accent, but I could not learn anything in class. Fortunately, I got a pretty good TA and he basically went through all the class material in 50min. Professor never relies email as well. My friend went to him after the exam (the only time that we saw him in person) and he said he did not have time for us and he would reply our email, but he never did. My midterm was a B and a C, but did not know why I got a A- for my final grade. Final exam results were not disclosed, and it was super hard. I have literally done every practice questions in the textbook and still saw questions that I have never heard of in the exam. The final grade was good, but his class is nevertheless not worth it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: C
Jan. 6, 2022

I absolutely hated this class. I took AP Calculus BC in high school, but 31B was like hell compared to AP Calc. Although lectures were online, the exams were all in person, which I believe is unfair and unreasonable.
Professor Padilla is a disorganized and confusing lecturer; he would jump back and forth between examples and theorems, and he sometimes wouldn't even finish solving the example. Although other students have complained about his accent, I didn't think it was that hard to understand his English... He simply just did not explain the concepts well enough for me to understand.
Homework was reasonable, which just consisted of a bunch of problems from the textbook. I believe your lowest homework grade is dropped.
Exams were AWFUL. They were nothing like the questions from the textbook/lectures; the exam problems were far more complex. Averages were low for the exams.
The only "review" questions that he offers us for the exams were some problems assigned from the textbook, and he didn't even provide an answer key for the problems, so I had no clue if I was even getting the problems right. The only way to check your answer is by comparing with peers or by going to his OH.
The only thing that saved me from actually failing this class was the fat curve at the end of the course, but nobody truly knew their grades until they officially came out.
I would avoid taking this class with this professor. If it is absolutely unavoidable, watch Youtube videos that explain the concepts, read through the textbook, solve extra problems, and work with your TA.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Jan. 3, 2022

I probably enjoyed this class more than most people. His lectures are not great, just him doing example problems for 50 minutes, but if you can keep up with that, the homework, and the exam review problems you will be fine. Do not snub the exam review problems. He told us that he frequently takes example problems from his lectures and puts them in the exam, so you should consider doing your best to pay attention and take notes during lecture.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Jan. 2, 2022

Padilla is a nice professor, and he clearly cares for his students- but I have to admit he is not great at lecturing and explaining mathematical concepts. The lectures were often very disjointed, with us jumping between different concepts. He often over complicated fairly simple topics, making them very hard to understand. The midterm and finals often covered these nebulous topics, making it significantly harder. The homework was easy, though you definitely need to do additional practice problems to prepare for exams. If you're okay self studying significant portions of the course, this class shouldn't be too hard for you. However I would not rely on Padilla to accurately explain ever concept to its fullest extent- even in office hours. Again, he is a nice professor and clearly wants his students to succeed; his lecturing and explaining skills just are lacking.

Helpful?

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

I took Calc BC in high school and this class was still confusing for me. The professor has an accent that is a bit hard to understand and he doesn't really explain things clearly. If I hadn't taken calc BC I would've been extremely lost. Homework was due every week on Friday at midnight (none on midterms and finals weeks) and it was only about 10 problems or so. Also I noticed he tends to cut students off when they're asking questions. He starts responding before the student even finishes the question and sometimes his response doesn't even answer what the student is asking because of this. Overall, wouldn't recommend but the curve is pretty high because the average on midterms was like 60%.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
2 of 4
2.9
Overall Rating
Based on 58 Users
Easiness 2.7 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 3.7 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.7 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Needs Textbook
    (31)
  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (23)
  • Useful Textbooks
    (31)
  • Tough Tests
    (32)
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