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.

Very confusing and contradicted herself frequently

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.

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.

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

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.

If you remotely like mathematics, do not take this class. This class is not math. It's basically memorization of some random concepts centering around modeling systems. Professor V doesn't seem to have a strong understanding of the material herself, and the textbook is not the most clear. However, the tests are pretty damn easy, especially if you go to TA office hours and study the practice tests rigorously. I regret entering this series because I actually kind of like math and this class bares no resemblance to a math course. If that's what you want though, go for it!

This class wasn't too bad. Like many others said, it's mostly conceptual with not many actual calculations. The concepts are not difficult to understand, especially if you've taken calc before. The coding is super easy (I'd never done any kind of programming before).

The textbook is available for free, which Venugopal gives out in a pdf. The class does require a clicker, but it's not used in every lecture.

Dr. V isn't the most clear lecturer but it's not too hard to pick up on the ideas on your own. The midterm and final were pretty easy, and she offers two grading schemes in case you bomb the midterm. Overall, I would recommend this class with Dr. V. It's very doable.

Don't take the LS30 series! In the case that you want to change your major out of the life sciences, this is a horrible choice as it won't transfer over. You'll have to take an actual math class - I think it's always better to have options. This series honestly felt like a waste of time. I wasn't learning anything other than how to take the exam.

If you do take this class though, Venugopal is alright. The TAs/LAs are pretty helpful. The coding labs can be a bit confusing, but there are resources to help you. The class is an easy A to say in the least, with very doable exams with a degree of self-studying.

Very confusing lectures. I found it pointless to attend class if it weren't for the stupid clicker questions. The TA's are very knowledgeable and are better for help with the material than Sharmila. The class was very easy, especially if you have a background in calc. The coding labs suck but most TA's will give you the answers at office hours.