Class: Prof Bennoun was genuinely such a great lecturer and I really enjoyed taking this class. He was always super nice and really helpful and engaging in how he answers questions! As someone who did terrible in calculus in high school, this class did a good job of explaining concepts I never really understood, and was more focused on the applications of math instead of just straight up numbers. All his lectures + annotated slides are uploaded onto BruinLearn which makes it really easy to review, especially if you missed parts of class. That being said, answering the iClicker questions are part of your participation, and if they apparently have ways of knowing if you answered out of class (I got an email saying they were gonna send me to the dean if it happened again even though I was in class that day?? idk but watch out I guess). The class also uses Piazza which is basically Reddit for the class and you could usually get a pretty timely response from TAs, students, or Steve.

Coding: Don't be intimidated by the coding! I had trauma from high school CS but CoCalc was easy to understand as long as you have a TA who's willing to answer questions, and I finished the coding final in like half of the given time.

Tests:
Final was much easier than the midterm, and most people I spoke to agreed. But with both, if you could find some mathematical error after they graded it, you could send a regrade request with why you deserve the point, as long as no one abuses it. Do the practice midterms, attend class weeks 5 & 10 for EC, and watch the review sessions. If you get it in class, you'll probably understand it on the exam, just watch out for wording on the change equations.

I don’t think this class was super hard, I don’t think the tests were super hard either. The professor was clear enough I feel. Office hours and any type of collaborative learning sessions would help with this class. If you’re not confident on a topic, ask friends , TAs! Always ask for help. I feel like I always anticipated that the test were going to be harder, then when I got the test I was like oh this is easier than I thought. But overall I think I liked this class.

The highest level of math I’ve taken is algebra 2. So I might be a bit biased on the level on difficulty. However, personally I really struggled in this class. The practice midterms were not even close to what showed up on the test. It was a lot harder than shevskovs exam and her average was 70. I didn’t study much for the midterm but I studied a lot for the final and still only got a 75. This class is much for difficult than it was in previous quarters. I know many of my classmates and I felt clueless and confused while we digested all the material. This isn’t real math, it’s fake math that has concepts of Calculus within it, but you can’t find videos about it online to help you like you can for normal math classes. I’d highly recommend just taking math instead of whatever this course was. If you do end up taking this course, put a lot of time and effort into it. Show up to office hours and attend the problem solving sessions. After every lecture make sure you understand everything or else you’ll struggle during the exams.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH BENNOUN!!! He is so clear and engaging, and his tests are very very fair. He does such a good job of reassuring everyone that they belong in STEM and even played us clips from Hidden Figures to motivate us!!!!

I think I had him in his first year of teaching, and it was my first quarter at UCLA. It was fun! I struggle with math so I went to TA office hours a lot, which was helpful for all the coding projects. The class is fair and he's a cool guy.

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH BENNOUN! Such an amazing and engaging professor, and is definitely very aware most people don’t like math. My biggest recommendation would be to download the lecture slides on your iPad before lecture and annotate the slides during, it’s definitely way too difficult to draw all the figures/equations and still pay full attention to the lecture. (If you’re an incoming freshman reading this, take this as a sign to buy an iPad if you haven’t already.)

As for the midterm and final, they were pretty similar to his practice exams and as long as you know things conceptually as well as practically you’ll be fine.

Side note: He does a great job of encouraging you that ANYONE can do well in this class and be a great mathematician, he played clips from Hidden Figures for us which was adorable.

Professor Bennoun is an angel amongst men.
Lectures: I recommend going to all the lectures, just because I think that’s the best way to learn, even though Bennoun did post his annotated lecture slides at the end of class and they’re recorded. The clicker questions are very helpful. Lectures are not particularly boring nor engaging, but as long as you're actively taking notes and listening, then they’re definitely worth your time.
Lab sections & Coding: The first few coding labs were extremely easy and the worksheets basically walked you through the entire process and gave the answers, but even if you were still confused, the TA, LA, or your classmates are able to help you during the lab section. The lab sections aren’t mandatory, but are extremely helpful to get help and basically you’re done with the coding assignment for the week if you go. There were also pre-lab quizzes which were very easy and you got two attempts (and the answers were shown after the first attempt but I don’t know how that’ll be for future quarters lol).
Homework: I honestly think the homework assignments were the hardest part of the class. It got very difficult at some points and I straight up didn’t know what to do for certain problems. It was helpful to go back and read the textbook (which is given for free) and get help from classmates.
Midterm: The TAs hosted a midterm review session which I found very helpful. The midterm was very fair and contained a good distribution of the content that we learned.
Problem solving sessions & Office Hours: I didn’t go to any of these, but I heard from others that they were helpful and I definitely would’ve gone if I wasn’t so lazy.
Lab practical: Bennoun canceled this because of the TA strike and used our lab grade for it instead. I’m fairly certain I would’ve done horribly on this. I’m not able to say much about it other than it is worth 10% of the grade. I wish Bennoun nothing but happiness in his life.
Final exam: The TAs also hosted a review session which was helpful. Due to the strike, Bennoun allowed us a double-sided 8.5x11 cheat sheet and put one coding question on the exam. The final was definitely harder than the midterm, but I was also pretty much checked out for the last few weeks of class.
Other notes: There were a few opportunities for extra credit which were basically just anonymous surveys. Again, due to the strike, he lowered grade thresholds by 3% (so an 87% was an A-, and a 90% was an A, etc.). He is an excellent professor who genuinely cares about his students.

Bennoun is a great first professor to have as a first-year! He really cares about teaching and about his students. During the TA strike, our lab practical was canceled and we were given the choice to bring a two-sided page cheat sheet. He is very understanding and his genuine passion for teaching and the content makes me feel motivated and want to put effort into his class.
For logistics and the way the course was designed: you have weekly homework problems due, not that hard, I think there were about 10 of them each week, and if you are ever stuck on a problem you can always ask for help on Piazza or your TAs. Your discussion is a coding lab, which starts out pretty easy but then gets a bit more challenging toward the end. My TA was Jingyi and she was helpful when I was stuck on my code. TAs hold Problem-Solving Sessions where you can ask/work on homework, lab, or the worksheets they create with previous exam problems. I would 100% recommend making time for these sessions! It's a great way to hold yourself accountable. For the midterm and final, what helped the most was just doing the practice midterms/final Bennoune provides. Past exam problems are the way to go. I would also recommend enrolling in a PLF session for this course if you are an AAP student. There are weekly worksheets that help consolidate the material you learn that week and with practice on previous exam problems, so when it comes to preparing for exams you are already confident and familiar with the material. iClicker is also part of your grade, but the 4 lowest scores are dropped in case you miss lecture. The textbook is provided to you so you won't have to pay for anything in this class, only your iClicker subscription if you don't already have one.
I would say the best way to succeed in this class is to always review your slides right after lecture and make sure you understand the homework problems as they provide a chance to familiarize yourself with the content. Do not fall behind because it will be hard to learn all the little things for the midterm and final. Bennoun makes this class really enjoyable!

Professor Bennoun is very organized and knowledgeable about the course. He's kind and wants you to succeed! If you attend lectures and are willing to ask questions, you will succeed in this course. The only con about the class is his office hours is that you often have to wait a LONG time for him to answer other students' questions. Try to use that time to do work and be ready with one specific question or him. If you do, office hours are very helpful.

Steve Bennoun is a very engaging professor. His teaching style shows that he cares about you learning the concepts. I would 100% consider taking another one of his classes even though I do not need it for my major. If you have to take LS30A, I highly recommend you take it with him. His tests may be slightly more challenging than the other professors teaching the class, but I think the overall experience is better.