Jukka is nerdy, funny, and professional all in one (my best compliment). Occasionally he throws a really funny and lowkey joke out of nowhere during his lectures. Very clear on the class objectives and materials. Lenient grading and reasonable homework. Also super responsive and responsible. He even pretends there are students going to his office whereas in fact he was just recording an extra video going through hw/worksheet with no students present in his office hours. Highly recommend.

This class honestly felt like a full-time job. I took an otherwise light workload the quarter I enrolled, and I still found myself overwhelmed at times. We had weekly worksheets (graded for completion), homework assignments with about 30 questions graded for accuracy, daily classes with mandatory attendance for clicker questions, weekly quizzes (which ended up being canceled due to the fires—we just did them together in class), and reflections plus 1–2 short questions at the end of each lecture (though I don’t think he’ll keep that part for future quarters).

My biggest tip: the study guides he gives are an accurate reflection of what will be on the exams. If you can confidently get through the practice midterms, you’ll be fine on the actual ones—he slightly changes the problem, but the concepts stay the same.

Jukka truly cares about his students. He’s got his quirks—like his deep love for math and commitment to helping students—but he genuinely wants you to succeed. The material is hard no matter who you take it with, so don’t think another professor will necessarily make it easier.

One thing to know: Jukka does teach straight from the slides, and sometimes his explanations can be hard to follow, which is why I highly recommend going to his office hours (he holds them almost every day, even Sundays) or your TA’s sessions.

I also took another class with him, and he was the only professor who went out of his way to fight for us—he advocated for allowing cheat sheets and giving us real study guides. That alone says a lot about his character and how much he wants to support students.

READ. THE. SYLLABUS.

Not because there's anything astounding you need to know about the course, but because it will give you an idea right off the bat of just what a wonderful human being Jukka is.

Calculus can be a very tough course for many. Jukka knows that and treats every student with the utmost care and respect as a result. Never once did I feel like he wouldn't understand my extenuating circumstances or that he wanted me to fail. Myself and my friends all agreed that the dedication he puts into making comprehensive study materials and organizing review sessions (often on the weekends and late into the evenings, out of his own free time) is unparalleled. Tests were difficult but I never felt they were "unfair", as he thoroughly prepared us for the types of problems we could see on the exam.

Yes, the other reviews are right, there is a lot of homework. But the class was never a burden on me and I've never been this engaged in a math class before, simply because of the immense work and joy Jukka has put into 31AL and, I assume, all his other classes.

To anyone reading this who may have their doubts: This class, like most, is all about how inspired you feel to attack it, and Jukka is someone who inspires you to do your best and succeed. I look forward to taking a class with him next quarter and can confidently say that he is the best professor I've had at UCLA thus far.

Jukka is the absolute best! He was very willing to help all of his students out by hosting multiple student hours a week. He would often go over homework questions and explain to us how to work through it. The workload is kind of a lot but as long as you start early and not wait until last minute you should be fine. The class is structured in a helpful manner with a post class reflection assignment as well as content review questions (a question based on material taught during lecture). It really helped with practicing what we just learned that very day. His practice exams are very similar to the actual exams and he is very fair in the types of questions that are on the midterms/final exams. I cannot stress enough how much of a good teacher Jukka is and if you have the opportunity to take him, you 100% should!

Student hours were held at least twice a week and are very helpful if you go to them. He often reads off the slides (which are posted) but they are often confusing with too much notation. As other reviews say he does not solve problems in class which makes it difficult, but that is what he does in his student hours if you can make it. Lots of work- homework every week takes around 3 hours if you actually do it and is graded on correctness (supposedly?). Midterms and final were fair and fully understandable if you do the practice tests and go to the review sessions. GO TO THE REVIEW SESSIONS- he often gives hints on what topics to really make sure to take a look at before the test and they are almost always on their. Overall very nice guy who tries to take his students but in my opinion has too much work that ends up not being too helpful in the long run.

Jukka's class was very helpful and I feel like I learned a lot. I took Calc AB in high school but I feel like he explains well enough to enter without a background in Calc. He gives a lot of homework for this course which is around 30-50 questions per week due Sunday night. The homework was very time consuming, but I felt like it prepared me enough for the course. He has 2 midterms and 1 final (all in-person) and they were very fair. I overall I really enjoyed and felt like I learned a lot in this course, but the workload was very heavy.

Actually the best class I've ever taken so far. There were lowkey a lot of problems but I guarantee all the people complaining started it last second. If you started it at the beginning of the week and do a little a day, you'd literally be fine. Also, he legit gives us like half the answers so like ??? Most sweetest professor I've had, genuinely cares about his students and is just an amazing person overall. Minimal studying on the final and clutched the class due to how much work I put on the assignments leading up to it. Take Jukka!!

Best math class!!
If you need to take 31A, I would highly suggest taking 31AL with Jukka. The extra discussion is extremely helpful and not an extra hassle. Jukka overall is very supportive to his students, he prepares you well for the midterms. Often doing extra office hours going over the practice midterms, explaining them, and answering questions. This helped me stay accountable with studying. He drops the lowest score of each category, however he doesn't drop finals or midterms. His lectures are easy to follow and really fun. Jukka is hilarious! I can't suggest this math class enough, do yourself a favor and take Jukka!

This was a great class! It was a lot of work but the effort you put in is what you are going to get out of it. He is such a kind teacher and truly wants you to learn!

Professor Keranen is a very nice and helpful professor who's really willing to answer students' questions. His practice exams are super super useful and very similar to the actual exams.