Professor

Sharmila Venugopal

AD
3.1
Overall Ratings
Based on 122 Users
Easiness 3.8 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.3 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.4 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 2.9 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (122)

4 of 10
4 of 10
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March 30, 2017
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A+

She lectures straight out of the book, so if you fall asleep during lectures, it is fine. However, you still need to attend lectures because of clickers for participation. Her labs are also mandatory, and the TA will take attendance. She's often not clear on concepts and can't really explain. Her lectures always get cut off because she explains things very slowly.
The LS 30 series is easy. You won't spend money on textbooks because they provide you their own written textbook for free. The labs are weird, but hopefully you have a good TA or a coding genius friend.
Her exams are pretty similar to her past exams she provides you. So do that, and you should be fine. Her office hours are useless though. Don't bother.

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July 3, 2017
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A

Venogupal is a horrible teacher. She can't explain materials clearly and sometime I had a hard time understanding her English. The entire lecture was unorganized and messy. Thank god we had excellent TAs they were very helpful both in discussions and in office hours. I mostly went to Conley or Garfinkel's lectures they were much better than Venogupal. If you take LS30A do not take it with her take Conley or Garfinkel.

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Dec. 24, 2016
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A+

Dr.Venogupal cannot explain clearly and is very disorganized. I learned more in Conley's review session for the Final Exam compared to the whole quarter. The concepts are not difficult though. The class is okay, but do not take it with her.

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Dec. 6, 2016
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: N/A

Professor Venugopal is a very nice person but she is unclear in her lectures. She is also difficult to hear at times. The labs that are due every week are difficult but the TAs and UAs are very helpful and have plenty of office hours. The math doesn't seem like it should be hard, but she does a poor job explaining it. I feel like the tests would have been easy if I was given a proper explanation.

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Feb. 23, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

She genuinely wants to help her students, but her lecture skills could use a bit of work. The labs for this class are useful because they provide an introduction to systems-oriented programming, but some are annoying to do.

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Dec. 23, 2018
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: C

Very confusing and contradicted herself frequently

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Dec. 31, 2018
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+

If you're considering Venugopal for LS 30A I highly recommend her. I wish someone had told me these things when I enrolled in the class: GO TO OFFICE HOURS. She really clarifies a lot that she misses during lecture and she tells you whats covered on the weekly quizzes/tests during these sessions. They're held right after the class so its convenient to go at least once a week. The tests are really fair. Participation is not a huge part of your grade honestly and there is no homework. Labs are hard but collaboration is encouraged-so make use of that. Lab test is cheese. Easy A if you put in some effort. EC was offered my quarter.

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Dec. 25, 2018
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+

Being honest, Professor V is not that good of a teacher (only point of lecture is clickers). She spends a lot of lectures reviewing material from the previous lecture and making corny jokes. The textbook is your best bet in actually learning anything and also most of the concepts are pretty easy to understand. Not only that, but the questions that show up on the exam are also easy to solve because they don't ask you about the complex parts of a concept. The TAs for this class are all great so they will also be a good resource. Venugopal posts many practice tests online and gives you lots of resources to succeed. Labs are hard-ish but the TAs and UAs are so helpful! Compared to the other profs, Venugopal's class is technically easier because there's virtually no homework other than labs and she makes her exams a little easier than the other professors. Just read the textbook to learn material and also this quarter at least, she gave a lot of extra credit to help our grades.

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Dec. 25, 2018
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+

Like others have already mentioned, she is not the greatest at explaining and elaborating on the concepts taught in the class. Luckily, Karan, my TA, was able to really effectively and efficiently break down the concepts for us in almost a quarter of the time spent in the lecture at the start of every lab section. The class itself, on the other hand, is fairly easy and she does provide a solid good amount of extra credit. The tests are often easier than the classes taught by her counterparts and she doesn't collect any homework besides the labs, which are pretty confusing unless you have a really helpful TA. TLDR: If you're looking for an easy class and you can self-study well then take her class; otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Jan. 17, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+

Professor Venugopal is the best. She is really sweet and funny in class and tries to remember peoples' names too. However, she isn't the best at explaining confusing concepts. On the bright side, her tests are VERY easy and if you can self study well, you will do fine in the class. The TAs and LAs are also an amazing resource because of their background knowledge in the material. I would recommend her over the other teachers just because of how easy the tests are. Just make sure you self study and go to TA office hours; don't be too chill because the midterm and final are weighted so you need to do well on both to get an A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Winter 2017
Grade: A+
March 30, 2017

She lectures straight out of the book, so if you fall asleep during lectures, it is fine. However, you still need to attend lectures because of clickers for participation. Her labs are also mandatory, and the TA will take attendance. She's often not clear on concepts and can't really explain. Her lectures always get cut off because she explains things very slowly.
The LS 30 series is easy. You won't spend money on textbooks because they provide you their own written textbook for free. The labs are weird, but hopefully you have a good TA or a coding genius friend.
Her exams are pretty similar to her past exams she provides you. So do that, and you should be fine. Her office hours are useless though. Don't bother.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A
July 3, 2017

Venogupal is a horrible teacher. She can't explain materials clearly and sometime I had a hard time understanding her English. The entire lecture was unorganized and messy. Thank god we had excellent TAs they were very helpful both in discussions and in office hours. I mostly went to Conley or Garfinkel's lectures they were much better than Venogupal. If you take LS30A do not take it with her take Conley or Garfinkel.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: A+
Dec. 24, 2016

Dr.Venogupal cannot explain clearly and is very disorganized. I learned more in Conley's review session for the Final Exam compared to the whole quarter. The concepts are not difficult though. The class is okay, but do not take it with her.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2016
Grade: N/A
Dec. 6, 2016

Professor Venugopal is a very nice person but she is unclear in her lectures. She is also difficult to hear at times. The labs that are due every week are difficult but the TAs and UAs are very helpful and have plenty of office hours. The math doesn't seem like it should be hard, but she does a poor job explaining it. I feel like the tests would have been easy if I was given a proper explanation.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Feb. 23, 2019

She genuinely wants to help her students, but her lecture skills could use a bit of work. The labs for this class are useful because they provide an introduction to systems-oriented programming, but some are annoying to do.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: C
Dec. 23, 2018

Very confusing and contradicted herself frequently

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
Dec. 31, 2018

If you're considering Venugopal for LS 30A I highly recommend her. I wish someone had told me these things when I enrolled in the class: GO TO OFFICE HOURS. She really clarifies a lot that she misses during lecture and she tells you whats covered on the weekly quizzes/tests during these sessions. They're held right after the class so its convenient to go at least once a week. The tests are really fair. Participation is not a huge part of your grade honestly and there is no homework. Labs are hard but collaboration is encouraged-so make use of that. Lab test is cheese. Easy A if you put in some effort. EC was offered my quarter.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
Dec. 25, 2018

Being honest, Professor V is not that good of a teacher (only point of lecture is clickers). She spends a lot of lectures reviewing material from the previous lecture and making corny jokes. The textbook is your best bet in actually learning anything and also most of the concepts are pretty easy to understand. Not only that, but the questions that show up on the exam are also easy to solve because they don't ask you about the complex parts of a concept. The TAs for this class are all great so they will also be a good resource. Venugopal posts many practice tests online and gives you lots of resources to succeed. Labs are hard-ish but the TAs and UAs are so helpful! Compared to the other profs, Venugopal's class is technically easier because there's virtually no homework other than labs and she makes her exams a little easier than the other professors. Just read the textbook to learn material and also this quarter at least, she gave a lot of extra credit to help our grades.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
Dec. 25, 2018

Like others have already mentioned, she is not the greatest at explaining and elaborating on the concepts taught in the class. Luckily, Karan, my TA, was able to really effectively and efficiently break down the concepts for us in almost a quarter of the time spent in the lecture at the start of every lab section. The class itself, on the other hand, is fairly easy and she does provide a solid good amount of extra credit. The tests are often easier than the classes taught by her counterparts and she doesn't collect any homework besides the labs, which are pretty confusing unless you have a really helpful TA. TLDR: If you're looking for an easy class and you can self-study well then take her class; otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
LIFESCI 30A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
Jan. 17, 2019

Professor Venugopal is the best. She is really sweet and funny in class and tries to remember peoples' names too. However, she isn't the best at explaining confusing concepts. On the bright side, her tests are VERY easy and if you can self study well, you will do fine in the class. The TAs and LAs are also an amazing resource because of their background knowledge in the material. I would recommend her over the other teachers just because of how easy the tests are. Just make sure you self study and go to TA office hours; don't be too chill because the midterm and final are weighted so you need to do well on both to get an A.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
4 of 10
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