Professor
Majid Sarrafzadeh
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Overall, I would say I like what they are going for in this class. They try and do a mix of teaching you the theoretical aspects of data science, while also giving you practical data science projects in python. Professor was absolutely horrible, though. His lectures were really hard to pay attention to and he was not clear in what he was teaching at all. At the end of this class, I would say I obtained a light understanding of the data science/ML theory and a good understanding of how to actually create models and using data science libraries.
Spring 2021 - Overall, I would say I like what they are going for in this class. They try and do a mix of teaching you the theoretical aspects of data science, while also giving you practical data science projects in python. Professor was absolutely horrible, though. His lectures were really hard to pay attention to and he was not clear in what he was teaching at all. At the end of this class, I would say I obtained a light understanding of the data science/ML theory and a good understanding of how to actually create models and using data science libraries.
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - Online made this class a shitload of relatively easy work. We were required to submit a video demo, report, and code with every project (there were 5 through the year), and the video and report always took a while. However, I definitely overdid them, because (at least for online) the TA's graded them very leniently. The only project you should be scared about is the one they run thru an automated tester. This is a TA led class, so try your best to get one that's helpful.
Spring 2020 - Online made this class a shitload of relatively easy work. We were required to submit a video demo, report, and code with every project (there were 5 through the year), and the video and report always took a while. However, I definitely overdid them, because (at least for online) the TA's graded them very leniently. The only project you should be scared about is the one they run thru an automated tester. This is a TA led class, so try your best to get one that's helpful.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Sorry to say, but this class is so f**ked up. Boards and computers are broken. Specs and instructions are often unclear, wrong or incomplete. Most of time in the lab is wasted on unnecessary debugging or resource searching, and no one knows what's going on. If things are not properly prepared, probably they should've kept it online for the entire quarter. Or, even better, just cancel this class because it's a complete waste of time and torturing on students.
Winter 2022 - Sorry to say, but this class is so f**ked up. Boards and computers are broken. Specs and instructions are often unclear, wrong or incomplete. Most of time in the lab is wasted on unnecessary debugging or resource searching, and no one knows what's going on. If things are not properly prepared, probably they should've kept it online for the entire quarter. Or, even better, just cancel this class because it's a complete waste of time and torturing on students.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - This professor does not give a shit about the students at all. No matter what he says or did throughout the quarter, he does not care at all and you should NOT take it with him - AVOID AT ALL COSTS. He emphasizes understanding the content over memorization and that as long as you make sure to review his lectures, complete the projects, complete the homeworks, and study the sparse resources he gave us (1 practice exam that he didn't write), you will do well in this class. This is a complete and utter lie. I aced the homeworks and projects alike as I understood all the content he went over in class, and then this horrible, uncaring professor goes ahead and on an exam worth 40% of our grade, puts questions that have us doing calculations he never even mentioned in class, says that the exam will be as long as or shorter than the practice exam in terms of number of questions, and then goes ahead and makes it much longer, and only gives us 90 minutes for the exam (which is worth the same as a final exam which is generally 3 hours and gives us half the time). This professor hands down does not give shit about the students. If it wasn't for the TAs seeing how shitty the professor was and making sure to give out extra points, a lot of people would be leaving the class with Cs SOLELY because of the final. I have never had such a hypocritical and uncaring professor at UCLA and I feel disgusted. Even Eggert makes sure to at least curve the class at the end so even if you get screwed by the scores, you have a chance to end up with a better grade than you expected. I know some people will downvote this answer, and I can tell you it will likely be those students who took CSM146 as they were already taught the content on the questions that Majid never taught us and thus easily aced the final (Side note, it is because these students did well that Majid ended up not curving because in his inane and broken logic, its fair to put questions only those with previous experience in an ML course could answer). In conclusion, this professor is truly terrible and avoid taking ANY class with him if possible (his CS 180 class was dogshit as well: he down curved the class after explicitly saying he wouldn't).
Spring 2021 - This professor does not give a shit about the students at all. No matter what he says or did throughout the quarter, he does not care at all and you should NOT take it with him - AVOID AT ALL COSTS. He emphasizes understanding the content over memorization and that as long as you make sure to review his lectures, complete the projects, complete the homeworks, and study the sparse resources he gave us (1 practice exam that he didn't write), you will do well in this class. This is a complete and utter lie. I aced the homeworks and projects alike as I understood all the content he went over in class, and then this horrible, uncaring professor goes ahead and on an exam worth 40% of our grade, puts questions that have us doing calculations he never even mentioned in class, says that the exam will be as long as or shorter than the practice exam in terms of number of questions, and then goes ahead and makes it much longer, and only gives us 90 minutes for the exam (which is worth the same as a final exam which is generally 3 hours and gives us half the time). This professor hands down does not give shit about the students. If it wasn't for the TAs seeing how shitty the professor was and making sure to give out extra points, a lot of people would be leaving the class with Cs SOLELY because of the final. I have never had such a hypocritical and uncaring professor at UCLA and I feel disgusted. Even Eggert makes sure to at least curve the class at the end so even if you get screwed by the scores, you have a chance to end up with a better grade than you expected. I know some people will downvote this answer, and I can tell you it will likely be those students who took CSM146 as they were already taught the content on the questions that Majid never taught us and thus easily aced the final (Side note, it is because these students did well that Majid ended up not curving because in his inane and broken logic, its fair to put questions only those with previous experience in an ML course could answer). In conclusion, this professor is truly terrible and avoid taking ANY class with him if possible (his CS 180 class was dogshit as well: he down curved the class after explicitly saying he wouldn't).
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