If you didn't take AP Calculus BC I would NOT recommend this class with Ocal. If you did take BC, I've heard that this class is just an easy review of that ( I didn't take BC). I've never been one to struggle with math, I got a 5 on the AP Calc AB exam, but despite this I've never cried and struggled so much with a class in my life. His lectures were not very engaging and he would give examples to concepts but not explain how he got any of his answers. Luckily, he follows the textbook exactly so if you read the textbook you don't even really need to go to lecture. If you're not able to go to lecture, he doesn't record his lectures but he does post his notes for the lecture. His grading scale was fair but the exam questions are graded solely on the answer you get and not the work you show-- therefore I got terrible grades on the exams typically due to stupid mistakes in my calculations, but you don't get points for any correct work so I would get the whole question wrong. There is also no extra credit whatsoever. There was no material to review for exams except to review homework and do textbook problems. I studied non-stop for a week for the final, I've never studied so hard and so long for an exam, and I still ended up getting a 68 on it. Maybe I'm just stupid but I've genuinely never tried so hard in a class and failed so miserably. Overall, Ocal is not a great professor and I would recommend a different teacher for 31B. If you are taking him, good luck <3

Under absolutely no circumstances should you take a class with Pablo. None. Even if you have to wake up for an 8am class, or the other one is online, or you think the other professors will be worse -- trust me, do not choose Pablo.

Pablo gave multiple choice midterms (no partial credit) with problems taken directly from the textbook (but the hardest ones, which aren't like any of the examples from class or homework problems). They were 8 questions in 50 minutes. For the final, it was switched to free response with partial credit (24 questions in 3 hours). However, the grading was still unfair and not an accurate representation of what we know. A full half point was taken off my otherwise entirely correct problem because I forgot a '+ C' at the end of my answer. The '+ C' and the rest of my work are in no ways equal, but were weighted as if they were.

He does not record his lectures, so if someone were to get COVID or become very sick, they would be out of luck and have no option but to attend class.

Pablo teaches by copying problems from the textbook onto a chalkboard. He picks the easiest problems, and he often makes errors while copying his notes which makes it incredibly hard to learn from. He doesn't reexplain after being asked about the errors.

In short, don't take Pablo. Save yourself the frustration and tears.

I thought this guy was really good overall and am a little surprised as to why the reviews are so low. My guess would be that the test questions were not very simple compared with other math classes I’ve taken. Pablo really enjoys giving trick problems on his tests and it’s not very hard but just something to look out for. All of the test questions I had seen on previous homework and discussion problem sets. My biggest piece of advice is to go to the discussions and do all of the optional homework and discussion problems. The homework is pretty much graded on completion and he has a policy where he will drop one or two midterms if it benefits your grade. He is pretty reasonable and decent at explaining. If he is your only option, he isn’t bad but be prepared to study a little more than other math classes you’ve taken. You might even get more out of the class than other easier professors. He also was a walking DRIP GOD bro always wore math shirts and he’s the goat I love Pablo 100% would take again

I made an account just so I could leave a review. This class is a joke, avoid it ALL costs. The professor can not teach. I started the year strong, going to every lecture just to realize they are a waste of time. Pablo does not know how to do the math he is teaching and as someone who already has trouble with calculus as it is, it just felt like I was being talked at for 50 minutes. He goes super fast and makes a ton of mistakes so trying to follow him felt counterproductive. Eventually, I had to use internet sources like Professor Leanord to learn the material. The tests he gives are really hard (the average for the second midterm was a D-) and I fully think that if he were made to take the test under the same conditions we did (no calculator or notes) he too would fail his own test. The homework problems are also long and tedious, the only saving grace is that he drops a bunch of them. I'm afraid that even with a curve I'm going to fail this class because I was unlucky enough to have him as a professor. I'm pissed because this was supposed to be my last pre-req and now I may be stuck for another quarter.

Pablo's lectures are literally just him reading examples from the textbook word for word. That's all well and good for learning the basic concepts, but when the midterms and final ask you to apply them in ways you haven't been asked you before, you find yourself trying to teach yourself things in the middle of the test. I've heard his review sessions were helpful, but I had a class at the same time as them so I could never attend. The TAs were helpful, but having your homework be returned up to five weeks later meant we never really knew how we were doing on the concepts. His grading scale was very generous, which definitely helped me a lot, but I would definitely recommend a different teacher if you can.

If there’re alternatives, just don’t. This class was an experience of pain and confusion. Lectures are fast paced and textbook-copying based. The exam questions were chosen to reflect the hardest of topics. Midterms were multiple choice and in a crowded room so ofc grade means were high. The final was free response, also the same pattern of hard questions. I needed to close the door on myself for several days to do well on the final. Homework was another source of pain. A ton of questions per week (gets to 40 questions sometimes) with nothing to tell you whether your answers are right or wrong for three weeks. The discussion sections weren’t that organized as well. Pablo and the TAs were really great people when it comes to anything but math teaching. The TAs seemed to put in the effort but it just didn’t work. A good thing was the three grading distributions where you can drop one or both midterms.

Pablo's lectures are just the textbook chapter notes copy and pasted onto a chalkboard. He just goes over what the textbook says verbatim and doesn't try to use other examples. That being said, he is helpful when it comes to clearing doubts or questions, be it in class, during office hours, or via email. He is very responsive to emails, which could be seen as a plus side.

I personally found his exams to be tough despite keeping up with the weekly homework, attending office hours, extra review sessions, etc. His midterms were multiple-choice but there were only eight questions worth ten points total (four questions were worth one point while two were worth two). As a result, if you miss one or two questions, it brings down your grade significantly. The final was 24 questions, each worth one point. It was fairly comprehensive but focused more on series and sequences than the other topics. It wasn't multiple-choice due to a last-minute change to a free-response format due to cheating allegations.

I found the final somewhat easier than the midterms, maybe because I was desperate to do well on it and ended up doing all the textbook problems. I got an A on the final, which helped me get an A in the class despite getting a C on both midterms thanks to final grade calculations depending on three different grading schemes: (1) Homework 15%, Midterm 1 25%, Midterm 2 25%, Final 35%; (2), Homework 15%, Max. Midterm 35%, Final 50%; (3) Homework 15%, Final 85%.

TLDR: Enthusiastic, Takes feedback, Super lenient grading scheme, No required attendance

While I acknowledge he's not the perfect professor (which I'll get to in a moment), the 2.1 rating Professor Ocal currently has on bruinwalk is much too harsh. Ocal is enthusiastic about teaching math and readily accepts feedback from students. For example, he had a review session for each of the two midterms we had this quarter. The first review session was more of an open-ended QnA format which apparently proved not to be super helpful for most people. Seemingly, several people articulated this in the feedback form which Ocal provided for us as the professor changed his review session format to include a lot more practice questions for midterm 2, much to our happiness.

It's true that occasionally Ocal will accidentally write a "-1" instead of a "1" on the chalkboard or succumb to a similar error which slightly detracts from the flow of his lectures. However, personally, those kinds of mistakes weren't egregious and rarely affected my understanding of a topic in the end. Another common criticism of him is that he teaches too closely with what the textbook already tells us. In my experience, his teaching isn't significantly different from other professors and I like how he explains the information. I think I learned most effectively when I was able to hear information from him first and re-read parts of the textbook myself.

If this doesn't suit you... his classes don't have required attendance, his lectures are recorded, and we get the textbook for free. So, you're free to just read from the textbook and skip his lectures if you would like.

PABLO DOES NOT DESERVE ANY OF THE HATE ON HERE

Great lecturer, super nice guy, easy and fair tests, not a lot of homework, 100/10 would take again

Pablo actively tries to improve from feedback, and always tries his very best to answer questions. Lectures are a little confusing in the beginning but that's just bc the class is conceptually hard at first. After week 3-4, it gets easier and easier.

Pablo also responds emails within minutes and is always super helpful. Hes super approachable after class and really cares about helping students understand.

Tests are a breeze, straight out of the textbook and are familiar problems (if you do recommended hw and discussions)

Would highly recommend doing the recommended hw problems and attending office hours and the class is an easy A and you learn a lot.

Despite getting a prefect A+ in this class, I feel the need for UCLA's math department(one of the best math departments in US university) to replace this professor. To start with, his lecture is extremely tedious and utterly useless. One of my close friend called Eric took this class with me. He has similar math ability as mine. However, we took completely different approaches to this class in this quarter. Eric went to all the lectures and took careful notes during the class. I, on the contrary, have never been to a single lecture and disregarded all the revision strategies provided by professor Parblo. At the end, Eric got an C- in this class and I got an A+, fully demonstrating professor Parblo's ignorance of helping students to excel in this class. Furthermore, professor Parblo's exam is unreasonably challenging and unnecessarily long. He covered materials like lagrange multipliers, which is part of the content of math 32A, in the final of this class, which is math 31B. Professor Parblo is not even familiar with what contents this class is suppose to cover, fully proving the fact that he is not suitable to teach this class anymore. His exam is incredibly time consuming. I started the exam at the first second and I continued writing until the last second. Guess what? I didn't finish. Exam is supposed to be an opportunity for students to reconsolidate their knowledge, not an opportunity for a race game. I'm not 007 and I can't complete mission impossible. Last but not least, professor Parblo has shown little empathy and sympathy towards people with disability such as me. I grew up with a body that is more prone to flu and other diseases compare to my peers. During this quarter, I was diagnosed with COVID. I asked professor Parblo for an extention on one of the homework assignments. Professor Parblo, without showing any care, told me that I could drop one of the homework assignments if the whole class did some random survey. Utterly ridiculous! I was sick with COVID, lying on my bed without the mental and physical ability to do anything. At that state, he was seriously expecting me to convince the entire class to do his useless survey. How is that even possible?! Overall, I think professor Parblo should be replaced by someone who is more capable of teaching the class.