Professor

Monica Visan

AD
4.3
Overall Ratings
Based on 42 Users
Easiness 2.8 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 2.9 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.3 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.2 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (42)

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MATH 131AH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 26, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-

As the person above mentioned, Visan is a really great lecturer. She's extremely clear and thorough during lectures, and goes at a comfortable pace (for the most part of the quarter). Her homework assignments are very challenging, but it really does help you understand the concepts. Plus, if you're stuck, she'll practically go through the solution with you in office hours.

This class is supposed to be one of the most challenging undergrad classes in the math department, so most of the difficulty in the class should be expected. That being said, I thought her midterms were pretty reasonable and straightforward; all the points I lost were due to dumb mistakes. However, her final was more difficult (for me at least), although she did warn us about it.

All in all, Visan's great, but expect to put in a lot of work into this class.

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MATH 131AH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
March 25, 2021
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A

Visan is the goat. She's super clear, and if you don't understand something on the homework she'll go through the solution with you during office hours. During online class, even though the math department has a 24 hour testing policy, her tests are 48 hours. The class is difficult, but it's an honors version of probably the most difficult undergraduate math subject, so that's to be expected. If you like math, take this class.

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March 24, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

Visan is a fantastic professor! I took Math 131AH and BH with her and she is my favorite professor at UCLA. THE BEST, period. Her teaching is so clear, and she writes everything on the board, so even if you don't understand it right away in class (analysis is hard, and honors class is no joke), you can totally go back and review your notes and you will be able to understand it (of course you should be willing to put in effort to this class). She has beautiful handwriting by the way.

Visan has a fantastic memory -- she lectures without notes, and never makes a mistake -- and she takes the effort to memorize every student's name (she will know how everybody is doing, so don't shirk and expect an easy A). She is extremely kind, patient, and encouraging during the office hours. Her homework is not easy but is carefully chosen to help us really master the material. They are relevant to what is taught in class and is very good for preparing the exam.

Her exam is fair and reflects the material taught in class and the homework. Going over the exercises in Rudin really helps. Often there will be a problem from the homework and a problem from Rudin on the exams (they are the giveaway points). The best thing I like about Visan is that her wording is very clear, never ambiguous. Unlike other professors, you will never be confused about theorems or problems due to ambiguous or careless wording. This makes studying so much smoother. She is quite generous about letter grades. If I am not mistaken, the median grade is about A-/B+ (of course as an honors class, many people drop the class midway because the material is hard and whoever persists are generally capable of mastering the material).

Just as a final word, the above is for pure/applied math majors intending for graduate studies. Professor Visan really prepares you for the basic exam. Take her class, and she will train you to be a mathematical analyst. If you are not a math major or not interested in "pure" math, Visan's class might be a little bit hard for you. (I audited her Math 33A class, and although I loved it very much (she just NEVER makes a mistake, which is unbelievable), I could expect freshmen complaining that it was very hard because Visan did a lot of proofs (the same proof I see again in my 115A class), but she does help lay a very very good foundation for math majors. Put in efforts, and I promise it will be rewarding.

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MATH 131BH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 13, 2021
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A

After taking Math 131ABH with professor Visan, I can confidently say that she's (one of) the best math professor I've ever had; her lectures are extremely clear, and homework assignments are helpful for us to truly understand our content. Also, she's always willing to help us when we get stuck on our homework problems.
However, be careful about her finals; the 131AH final she gave was more difficult comparing to homeworks and midterms that quarter, and the 131BH final was terribly difficult. But this still doesn't affect the fact that she's an excellent professor.

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June 18, 2019
Quarter: Spring 2017
Grade: A-

She honestly is such a legend. Loved 33a with her.

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June 14, 2018
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A

Monica Visan is a great professor. She is stern, sharp, and does not put up with any ruckus in the class. That being said, she is a very kind lady -- she's funny and serious at the same time. You can tell she cares about her students. Not to mention, she is a mathematical genius. Just don't ask a dumb question in class or you will get toasted.

Her lectures involve lots of writing (and she can write fast). You will likely fill up a notebook. The notes are very helpful though -- the exact problems she does in the notes appear as test questions.

33A is pretty tough. The first few weeks you will be trying to figure out what is going on. But soon, you will get the hang of things.

Her tests are very fair and heavily computational. The midterms are more difficult than the final as they are pressed for time, but they never have any proofs or anything unordinary.

All in all, difficult class, good professor, would recommend.

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June 14, 2018
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A

SHE IS THE G.O.A.T. I have never made an account to write a bruinwalk review but this professor is so good that I just have to do it. She is the best math professor I ever had at UCLA (compared to her husband, Killip lmao). In lecture, she might seem really strict but personally, I like this about her because that's how you know that she means business in teaching. During her office hours, on the other hand, she is a completely different person. She is so nice and patient with answering your questions so I recommend going there if you need help. She is extremely clear and brutally efficient at getting you know exactly what you need to know for the midterm and final. She doesn't teach you nonsense that you'll never see again in the tests. The midterms were very easy conceptually and were purely computational. The hard part about the midterms are that they are EXTREMELY computationally heavy within a small 50 minute time frame and so it's easy to make arithmetic mistakes and get the question wrong. The killer for these tests are solely arithmetic mistakes. The final is also easy conceptually but also has intense computations. For the final, it was almost exactly like her practice final and she spent the whole last lecture going over how to do questions that did show up on the test. It is no exaggeration that she does everything possible to have you do well. The only really major concern you'll have with this class is that she prepares ALL of you really well for her tests. That means you'll probably have a decently challenging time trying to be within the top 25-30% of students to get an A as the math department have quota's for people getting grades and you're competing with other students who also know the material really well. Despite that, I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND her class. 10/10 would take again. Visan's the homie <3

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June 19, 2018
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A

Professor Visan is definitely the best math professor that I have had at UCLA. While her notes may seem a bit confusing during class (they're mostly definitions and proofs), if you read through your notes again, it's much clearer. The concepts of Math 33A are not difficult, but it's definitely necessary to understand them to do well. Exams are computational (except there was a few true or false questions on the final-which is another reason to definitely know and truly understand theorems). Although they are generally computations done before in class or on the homework, sometimes there are a few minor curveballs thrown in to make sure you know the theory and thus can figure out how to do the computations. Honestly, the hardest part about the class is doing better than everyone else on the exams-since it's fairly doable, a lot of the class gets an A, so make sure to still take the class seriously if you want to get an A. The exams all had averages around 70-75% and ~25% of the class would still get an A. The grading scheme is 10% homework, 20% per midterm, and 50% final. I definitely recommend taking Professor Visan (but just know her class fills up really quickly! It was full by around 2 PM on the day of freshman first pass and she does not give PTE numbers since the class was so full that people were sitting on the steps of the lecture hall).

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July 10, 2018
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: B

Honestly Visan isn't as great as everyone makes her out to be. She can be rude in lecture and overcomplicates the topics that she teaches. She'll ask the class what the answer for a certain example problem is and when someone doesn't answer immediately she gets really mad. Some people find this entertaining but I did not. In lecture she just writes proofs on the board the whole time and rarely does examples. Your hand will cramp from so much writing. Her midterms are reasonable and you can do well on them if you study. Homework isn't too bad. The final was pretty difficult mostly because it had a lot of nasty fractions and square roots in the calculations. Overall, not a super hard class but Visan could do a better job of explaining things more patiently and clearly.

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Dec. 30, 2023
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A

GOAT math professor. If you want to have a deep understanding of real analysis, take her class.

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MATH 131AH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A-
March 26, 2021

As the person above mentioned, Visan is a really great lecturer. She's extremely clear and thorough during lectures, and goes at a comfortable pace (for the most part of the quarter). Her homework assignments are very challenging, but it really does help you understand the concepts. Plus, if you're stuck, she'll practically go through the solution with you in office hours.

This class is supposed to be one of the most challenging undergrad classes in the math department, so most of the difficulty in the class should be expected. That being said, I thought her midterms were pretty reasonable and straightforward; all the points I lost were due to dumb mistakes. However, her final was more difficult (for me at least), although she did warn us about it.

All in all, Visan's great, but expect to put in a lot of work into this class.

Helpful?

3 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131AH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Winter 2021
Grade: A
March 25, 2021

Visan is the goat. She's super clear, and if you don't understand something on the homework she'll go through the solution with you during office hours. During online class, even though the math department has a 24 hour testing policy, her tests are 48 hours. The class is difficult, but it's an honors version of probably the most difficult undergraduate math subject, so that's to be expected. If you like math, take this class.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131AH
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
March 24, 2019

Visan is a fantastic professor! I took Math 131AH and BH with her and she is my favorite professor at UCLA. THE BEST, period. Her teaching is so clear, and she writes everything on the board, so even if you don't understand it right away in class (analysis is hard, and honors class is no joke), you can totally go back and review your notes and you will be able to understand it (of course you should be willing to put in effort to this class). She has beautiful handwriting by the way.

Visan has a fantastic memory -- she lectures without notes, and never makes a mistake -- and she takes the effort to memorize every student's name (she will know how everybody is doing, so don't shirk and expect an easy A). She is extremely kind, patient, and encouraging during the office hours. Her homework is not easy but is carefully chosen to help us really master the material. They are relevant to what is taught in class and is very good for preparing the exam.

Her exam is fair and reflects the material taught in class and the homework. Going over the exercises in Rudin really helps. Often there will be a problem from the homework and a problem from Rudin on the exams (they are the giveaway points). The best thing I like about Visan is that her wording is very clear, never ambiguous. Unlike other professors, you will never be confused about theorems or problems due to ambiguous or careless wording. This makes studying so much smoother. She is quite generous about letter grades. If I am not mistaken, the median grade is about A-/B+ (of course as an honors class, many people drop the class midway because the material is hard and whoever persists are generally capable of mastering the material).

Just as a final word, the above is for pure/applied math majors intending for graduate studies. Professor Visan really prepares you for the basic exam. Take her class, and she will train you to be a mathematical analyst. If you are not a math major or not interested in "pure" math, Visan's class might be a little bit hard for you. (I audited her Math 33A class, and although I loved it very much (she just NEVER makes a mistake, which is unbelievable), I could expect freshmen complaining that it was very hard because Visan did a lot of proofs (the same proof I see again in my 115A class), but she does help lay a very very good foundation for math majors. Put in efforts, and I promise it will be rewarding.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131BH
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2021
Grade: A
June 13, 2021

After taking Math 131ABH with professor Visan, I can confidently say that she's (one of) the best math professor I've ever had; her lectures are extremely clear, and homework assignments are helpful for us to truly understand our content. Also, she's always willing to help us when we get stuck on our homework problems.
However, be careful about her finals; the 131AH final she gave was more difficult comparing to homeworks and midterms that quarter, and the 131BH final was terribly difficult. But this still doesn't affect the fact that she's an excellent professor.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
Quarter: Spring 2017
Grade: A-
June 18, 2019

She honestly is such a legend. Loved 33a with her.

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MATH 33A
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A
June 14, 2018

Monica Visan is a great professor. She is stern, sharp, and does not put up with any ruckus in the class. That being said, she is a very kind lady -- she's funny and serious at the same time. You can tell she cares about her students. Not to mention, she is a mathematical genius. Just don't ask a dumb question in class or you will get toasted.

Her lectures involve lots of writing (and she can write fast). You will likely fill up a notebook. The notes are very helpful though -- the exact problems she does in the notes appear as test questions.

33A is pretty tough. The first few weeks you will be trying to figure out what is going on. But soon, you will get the hang of things.

Her tests are very fair and heavily computational. The midterms are more difficult than the final as they are pressed for time, but they never have any proofs or anything unordinary.

All in all, difficult class, good professor, would recommend.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A
June 14, 2018

SHE IS THE G.O.A.T. I have never made an account to write a bruinwalk review but this professor is so good that I just have to do it. She is the best math professor I ever had at UCLA (compared to her husband, Killip lmao). In lecture, she might seem really strict but personally, I like this about her because that's how you know that she means business in teaching. During her office hours, on the other hand, she is a completely different person. She is so nice and patient with answering your questions so I recommend going there if you need help. She is extremely clear and brutally efficient at getting you know exactly what you need to know for the midterm and final. She doesn't teach you nonsense that you'll never see again in the tests. The midterms were very easy conceptually and were purely computational. The hard part about the midterms are that they are EXTREMELY computationally heavy within a small 50 minute time frame and so it's easy to make arithmetic mistakes and get the question wrong. The killer for these tests are solely arithmetic mistakes. The final is also easy conceptually but also has intense computations. For the final, it was almost exactly like her practice final and she spent the whole last lecture going over how to do questions that did show up on the test. It is no exaggeration that she does everything possible to have you do well. The only really major concern you'll have with this class is that she prepares ALL of you really well for her tests. That means you'll probably have a decently challenging time trying to be within the top 25-30% of students to get an A as the math department have quota's for people getting grades and you're competing with other students who also know the material really well. Despite that, I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND her class. 10/10 would take again. Visan's the homie <3

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: A
June 19, 2018

Professor Visan is definitely the best math professor that I have had at UCLA. While her notes may seem a bit confusing during class (they're mostly definitions and proofs), if you read through your notes again, it's much clearer. The concepts of Math 33A are not difficult, but it's definitely necessary to understand them to do well. Exams are computational (except there was a few true or false questions on the final-which is another reason to definitely know and truly understand theorems). Although they are generally computations done before in class or on the homework, sometimes there are a few minor curveballs thrown in to make sure you know the theory and thus can figure out how to do the computations. Honestly, the hardest part about the class is doing better than everyone else on the exams-since it's fairly doable, a lot of the class gets an A, so make sure to still take the class seriously if you want to get an A. The exams all had averages around 70-75% and ~25% of the class would still get an A. The grading scheme is 10% homework, 20% per midterm, and 50% final. I definitely recommend taking Professor Visan (but just know her class fills up really quickly! It was full by around 2 PM on the day of freshman first pass and she does not give PTE numbers since the class was so full that people were sitting on the steps of the lecture hall).

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 33A
Quarter: Spring 2018
Grade: B
July 10, 2018

Honestly Visan isn't as great as everyone makes her out to be. She can be rude in lecture and overcomplicates the topics that she teaches. She'll ask the class what the answer for a certain example problem is and when someone doesn't answer immediately she gets really mad. Some people find this entertaining but I did not. In lecture she just writes proofs on the board the whole time and rarely does examples. Your hand will cramp from so much writing. Her midterms are reasonable and you can do well on them if you study. Homework isn't too bad. The final was pretty difficult mostly because it had a lot of nasty fractions and square roots in the calculations. Overall, not a super hard class but Visan could do a better job of explaining things more patiently and clearly.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 131A
Quarter: Fall 2023
Grade: A
Dec. 30, 2023

GOAT math professor. If you want to have a deep understanding of real analysis, take her class.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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