Same thing as the guy below but I ended up with a D... now i have to retake a class with mess who is I heard a worse professor.... now imagine that.

Do not put yourself through his class. If you are reading the reviews and thinking that he can't be as bad as some people say, you are wrong. A lot of people managed to get good grades on his tests, and these people will tell you he is a fine teacher, but he is not. Their success was in no way due to his teaching. Chayes is incomprehensible during lectures and office hours, and he will not teach you any of the material. If you enjoy spending hours every week trying to teach yourself the material and struggling through impossibly difficult and annoying problem sets, then you will have fun!

If you are already enrolled and you have the option to switch into a different class, do it. If you get through the first or second problem set and you can't understand the problems/ would not be able to do them on your own, drop the class (a lot of test questions come from the homework, are similar to the homework, or are completely new concepts). I very much wish that I had dropped at the beginning

I ended up with a c in the class after studying my butt off, going to all of the lectures, discussions and office hours, because it took me untill the final to figure out what the fuck he was trying to teach us and how to approach his tests.

Just saw my score for the final. Honestly, the final was far easier than I had expected. Got full scores for all my midterms and final.
You just have to get 100 out of 120 for mid terms, and 200 out of 235 for the final. So don't worry about his tests.
All you need to do is to pay attention to what Professor Chayes says and work hard. Ask him directly if you don't understand.
He is an interesting professor. Just a little bit weird...
Take him if you are a math major or really love math. He will help you to understand math better.
建议不能自学、不愿意去问他问题的人别选这门课，他喜欢沉浸在自己的世界里，我数学专业的，但没看过书有的时候真的不知道他在说什么。。。

If you are a math major and smart I would really recommend you to take his class!
I go to most of his lecture and he doesn't teach much materials on the book but something insightful and interesting (mostly relevant). He's funny and he makes you understand math in a deeper level. However, to be objective, his inscrutable teaching material can potentially hurt you if you don't listen or not good at math.

So I feel that I did really bad on the final. There were a couple of questions that I had no clue how to solve. I would say I was able to do 8/12 questions. Now if I got those 8 right that is another question.

So lets start with Chayes. He is kind of an eccentric but amusing professor. The first couple weeks were super confusing because it covered topics such as vectors. Things that I have never seen before. I went to his office hours a couple of times but it did not help. I ended up going to ta office hours every week with help on the homework. Those hours saved my life. I got F's on homework before that and then ended up getting A's or B's.

The midterms are based on the harder homework problems with a few wtf questions. I would say truly understand the homework. I did bad on both midterms because I failed to do this. I studied my but off for the final. I feel that I did better on the final than the midterms but still pretty bad. The lectures do get more understandable as you get use to his teaching. Pay attention, go to office hours, and do the homework. Chayes really makes you know math. Even with this I feel that I still failed the class overall because of the final.

I just took the final and I know I did poorly. I am probably gonna end up with a B- or B. However, I still don't agree with all the negative reviews against Chayes.

To be honest, I would have got an A if I studied. Being a first year and did well in the AP exam, I stopped going to the lectures and discussions after the first midterm. I never study on my own. I only did the weekly homework and nothing else.

Chayes' lecture is pretty dry and all over the place. And that's what you would expect for an advanced college level math class. Chayes is a very professional college professor and does a good job. His homeworks and lectures actually prepare you for higher level math and his exams. I now start to appreciate his way of teaching as I learned how to think and problem-solving in a real mathematical way.

If I get to chance to choose again, I would still choose Chayes over the other professors. But I would make sure I go to the lectures and listen to Chayes. To those of you who disliked Chayes, welcome to college! You need to change your attitude and study habit from high school!

When I first signed up for this course, I saw the reviews of Lincoln Chayes, and I thought, "Oh, I'm sure all of these kids who have taken his class are just exaggerating or extremely bad at math." Let me tell you, I was wrong.

Lincoln Chayes is a professor one should try and avoid. I went to his lectures every single day, and I learned absolutely nothing during them. At the beginning of the quarter, his lectures made no sense, but progressively became a tad more clearer. No matter how hard I tried understanding what he was talking about, it simply did not make sense. He is an intelligent man, don't get me wrong. But he shouldn't be teaching, bottom line.

His homework assignments are really difficult. His lectures hardly cover anything on the assignments. He usually gives about 10-15 problems per week, but they're not straightforward problems. Most of the homework problems were theoretical.

His first midterm was hard in my opinion. I tried so hard on it, but I did not do well at all. The TAs graded it harshly. Surprisingly, though, a lot of people did well on it. The average was about a 70 percent. On the second midterm, it was a bit easier, but still difficult. This one I passed, although the average was an 80 percent. Chayes said that this midterm he was going to have the TAs grade it not as harsh as the first.

In my opinion, I would AVOID this professor at all costs. Right now, I'm a biology major with a minor in mathematics, but I'm considering dropping the minor because of how much Chayes ruined math for me. I thought I would be okay in this class, but I'm struggling to pass this class. I haven't taken the final yet, but I hope it isn't too difficult (although I doubt that this would occur because Chayes wouldn't make it easy).

Professor Chayes is not that bad... He's brilliant and amusing. I admit his homework is somehow hard, but it helps you to understand the material better.
He's always available for questions. You can always go to his office hours if you don't understand something. Trust me, you can learn a lot during his office hours.
His mid terms are okay. The first one was super easy. He even used homework problems!!! The second one was a little harder, but more straightforward. I haven't taken the final yet... Hope it won't be a lot harder....
He may not be the best lecturer, but he's still an interesting professor. You don't need to avoid him anyway.

Chayes is a funny guy and you can tell that he's really smart however, teaching is way too abstract for non math majors/geniuses. Homework is really hard and has little to do with the textbook problems. Grading is harsh on midterms and homework. Homework has no solutions, so I never know if I'm doing anything right. TA's have trouble explaining the homework problems. Overall I'd say I had a pretty poor experience. Avoid at all costs even if it means taking math during a different quarter.

I would not wish Chayes on my greatest enemy, nobody deserves that.

Do not take this professor. I literally understood nothing that he said in lectures, his problem sets are impossible(the TAs did not understand some of the problems), and his tests are relatively difficult and graded harshly (I lost 15 percent on a midterm for not simplifying an integral...).

A lot of people get A's on his tests and a lot of people get D's and F's(probably a third of the class). He is always available for help, but he never ever makes sense.

I repeat, DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS. you will regret it, even if you like math. I came into this year as a math major and now i plan on never taking a math class again. I just hope you read these reviews before signing up for classes... I did not... now I am stressed out and angry at life because Chayes is so horrible