Professor Bennoun is quite possibly the best professor and person I have met at UCLA. He is so funny, and he makes class incredibly engaging. Bennoun has got to be the kindest and most understanding teacher I have had the opportunity to learn from. Not only are his classes relaxed and fun, but he also takes time to acknowledge the social aspects of mathematics. Bennoun spent a few lectures taking time to acknowledge the influence of BIPOC and WOC in mathematics, and it made learning the content even more worthwhile! He also conducts extensive office hours, and social hours, and overall he just made this class so much fun and so easy to understand.

Listen. This man is one of the most genuine, kind, helpful people I have ever known, and he's SUCH A GOOD TEACHER! Part of what he got his degree in is related to active learning, and it REALLY helps. Sitting in lectures and not participating and listening to someone drone on can be really boring, and HE IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE! There were iClicker questions that we answered during the lectures (participation), which you could also make up on CCLE if you missed the lecture. He goes through everything and explains it well, and the active learning style of having class participation really really helps. There was a weekly quiz every week, no longer than about 5 questions or so, all very easy. We got 3 attempts, and you could review each time to see what you got wrong. Same with the Labs; the labs are coding (be warned!), and the prelab quizzes have 3 attempts too. All of it is to facilitate ACTUAL LEARNING, and to promote that over grades. There were 1020 points total for everything, and you could miss 20 points and still have an A. So technically.... there IS extra credit. Lowest two hw grades were dropped, 1 midterm (20%), 1 final (20%). Both the midterm and final were in 3 stages; we got a grade to prepare and do a study guide, which we could work on with our labs groups (and turn in individually). Individual exam for the midterm, 2hrs, for the final, 3hrs (cumulative). Last part was a group work part w our lab group, which was basically just slightly harder questions that developed on the questions in the individual exam. Sometimes, the homework kind of expected you to be able to do stuff we didn't go over a TON, but that basically just means you should read the textbook and do the homework problems; you'll be set. I took AP Calc BC, which definitely helped in understanding this class. If you did not take calculus or precalc at LEAST in highschool, this class might be a bit more challenging for you, but there are plenty of resources to help. WE ALL LOVE PROF BENNOUN! (we have no idea what cornell was going on about...).

As someone with no experience in calculus, precalculus, or coding (only taking up to Algebra 2 in high school), I thought I was going to struggle with the course, yet I ended up doing very well. Here are my tips and comments.

#𝟏: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.

Though I didn't personally go (at all honestly), I heard from my friends that the TAs were helpful in answering questions. You can go to any TA's office hours, so just look at which ones are the most convenient for you. I would recommend going to 2-3 office hours per week to clear up questions and reinforce your understanding of the material.

#𝟐: 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬.

Consistency is key with this course as the workload will build up and it is very hard to cram if you don't understand the basics. Make sure to work on your homework after every lecture as usually half of it is able to be done after the first lecture of the week and the other half can be done after the second lecture.

#𝟑: 𝐃𝐨 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐬 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬).

There is a bonus that is awarded at the end of the course for completing all homework sets on time, completing all surveys on time, and attending all classes in week 5 and 10. Also, the way they take attendance in week 5 and 10 is clicker questions and a practice midterm and final. If you do good on the practice exam, you will get an extra bonus point added to your grade (not sure if its 1 percent or 1 point to the exam score. Initially, the bonus was an extra 0.5% added to your final grade. However, after a student complained to their TA about how Professor Shevstov's lecture allowed students to receive up to 6 points back on their midterm if they did test corrections, Professor Bennoun increased it up to 2.5%.

#𝟒: 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝.

They say that the best way to learn is to teach. Personally, most of my learning was focused on explaining concepts to other people, and it paid off pretty well.

#𝟓: 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬.

The iClicker questions are free points but you have to watch out for when Professor Bennoun starts a question without speaking into the microphone and telling us he is about to do so. They're graded on participation so it doesn't matter what answer you get.

#𝟔: 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬? 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐆𝐏𝐓 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

Not gonna lie, GPT-4 came in clutch this semester. If I didn't understand something, I just asked it to explain it to me. Simple as that.

# 𝟕: 𝐃𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐬.

Although most of the concepts of the exam are covered in the review sessions, the practice exams are so much easier than the actual exams. As can be seen by previous exams, Professor Bennoun may have upped the difficulty of the class this year.

𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

For some reason, the midterm was way harder than the final. Maybe this was due to my lack of calculus background, but be prepared to study hard for it. The homework is graded on completion, but you have to show all your work or you get points off for each problem you don't show it for. Also, Professor Bennoun's TAs give an egregious amount of partial credit on the exams. On some questions, you get half credit for even attempting it. You can literally get a full problem wrong and still get a C on that problem if you show understanding of the underlying concepts or if the TA decides to give you free points. Overall though, the class was pretty manageable, and Professor Bennoun was a very nice and fair professor. I would definitely recommend taking this class with him if you can.

𝐏𝐌 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 (𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞) 𝐭𝐨 @𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬@𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦

I absolutely could not imagine a better first professor to start UCLA with. Not only is he a great lecturer, he's also super encouraging! Any question you ask will likely be met with an amazing answer, even if you consider it "a stupid question." You are actively encouraged to ask any and all questions that come to mind, which is wonderful. While there was a decent amount of work, it never felt like a chore, nor did any of the work feel like busy work. The lecture slides are clear and concise, which is also wonderful considering their usefulness for the midterm and final. As long as you attend lecture, ask questions, engage in class, and go to office hours regularly, you should have no trouble with this class. Additionally, the topics, for me at least, were super interesting, especially considering its relevance to certain "current events" (disease modeling).

This class is split into 2 parts, lectures and labs. In labs, you are taught the basics of Python (a programming language) and how to apply it to certain models and graphs. Points are split between the two parts, and homework and lab grades do matter in the long run (50% of your total grade combined). Professor Bennoun also offers extra credit, which should make up for some points lost here and there. There is one midterm and final, which are very manageable as long as you've done the homework and attended the special review office hours. Professor Bennoun also does some review in class before both tests which were super helpful.

Overall, this is a class I'd love to take again. The class is interesting, the professor is wonderful, and the workload is definitely manageable! I definitely recommend this class to anybody who is interested.

I'm convinced that this man's spirit animal is the GOAT.

This class is NOT extremely calculus-heavy, more-so applications of those concepts in actual biological scenarios. The first couple of weeks had almost no relation to calculus so if you're behind, it's not too big of a deal. The midterm and final were extremely easy if you actually understand the material (don't memorize the formula, know why they work).

The python coding labs are not as challenging as you might think! I had absolutely no prior coding experience and still managed to breeze through them. The trick is to actually READ the labs, because they often give you the answer and you just have to reapply it to the context of the problem. The labs can be pretty engaging and fun with the right mindset, and they're really good ways to strengthen your problem solving and logical skills.

Professor Bennoun is an excellent teacher and a very considerate person. If you can, I would highly recommend attending his office hours, because he can teach the material efficiently and help you UNDERSTAND the material instead of just knowing it. Due to the TA strike, Professor Bennoun made two critical changes: replacing the lab practical with the lab grade (essentially increasing how much labs were worth) and changing the cutoff for an A from 93% to 90%. In my opinion, this made the class a lot easier (almost trivial) but it goes to show how considerate this man is. Even if you're not skilled with calc/coding, this class is really manageable and I'd highly recommend taking it with Professor Bennoun.

Dr. Bennoun is a very helpful professor. He speaks clearly and is easy to understand. He teaches topics from the basics and builds it up so it is easier to grasp the concepts. The class is generally easy, however the concepts and the coding can definitely be a bit challenging to grasp. I'm taking him again for LS30B next quarter because my experience was so positive! And if enrollment is anything to go by, his class always goes away first.

Dr. Bennoun is quite possibly the greatest math educator I have ever had. He is incredibly clear during lectures, open to any and every question, goes out of his way to assist struggling students, and is overall very pleasant to be around. He is so approachable and it's clear he wants his students to succeed. In terms of the class workload, it's very similar to other LS 30A classes, and there is a decent amount of work ahead of you. Knowing calculus before taking this class is by no means a requirement, but it makes a lot of the homework much easier. That being said, Bennoun still provides A TON of resources for students with no calc background. He also uploads a lot of resources before the midterm and final, including practice exams, courselets, and office hours that he uploads, in which he goes through any homework question students are struggling on. Overall, this class was a highlight of my quarter, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I would take it again just for Bennoun :)

TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!!!
His class is super clear and helpful! He often starts with rather simple concepts, and I can tell that he slowly paves the way to harder parts through multiple examples. He sometimes designs tricky questions in iClicker to illustrate common misunderstandings (but because iClicker is graded on participation, no worries of deducting points because of tricky questions!) At the end of each section, he gives a summary of the materials.
The workload at the start of the quarter was heavy but manageable. Professor Bennoun actually listened to students' advice/ideas and gave less homework after the midterm.
The labs are a little bit difficult, but they won't be on the test, and only takes up 64/400 of total points, so don't be too worried if you have no prior coding experience!

Professor Bennoun was a great professor to have this quarter. His lectures were engaging and informative and the clicker questions really helped to supplement the material. The class content itself is definitely different than high school math with the only similarity being basic calculus (derivatives and integrals) but I found it a lot more interesting than anything I did in high school.

Every week there was a coding project, quiz based on the lecture material, homework set, and pre-lab videos and quiz. The coding projects are done in a small group during discussion and most of the time you can finish or get most of the way through them then. The TAs also hold office hours where you can get help on the projects. The homework is sometimes confusing because of the textbook and was pretty long so I would definitely not try to do it all the night before it's due. The lowest two homework scores, lowest quiz grade, and lowest lab score were also dropped! There was one midterm and a final and I found both of them not overly difficult. He provided a lot of practice tests and held office hours which were both really helpful for the tests. Overall, I would recommend to take this class with him.

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