He might be a great mathematician, but his lecture notes are utterly illegible and there's claims of some really awkward final grading. Probably didn't account for the fact that half the kids are cheating out of their asses on the final/midterm while the rest are left to fend for themselves on the same curve. Also, "If not for the pandemic, it would be an exam that I would give in the usual three hour time slot" is insulting in hindsight. Hand me that exam in person and I'm walking right back out the door.

I liked Elman. I wasn't really present while taking 33A and 115A so I pretty much didn't have much linear algebra knowledge before hand (I only really knew up to linear independence and basis) but Elman spent adequate time reviewing concepts before going more in depth which I appreciated. The course is 25% HW, 25% takehome midterm and 50% final. I thought the difficulty of the HW wasn't too bad. The takehome midterm was definitely harder and the final wasn't as hard conceptually but was graded significantly harder in my opinion. Our TA Alex Kastner is one of my personal favourites. He was very open to give hints and go through homework questions. Overall, I would highly recommend this course with Elman.

Definitely a fantastic professor, can't recommend him enough. His classes are well thought out, the concepts lead from one into another and the hw problems are very useful and insightful. His lectures are engaging and entertaining.