Prof. Bennoun is by far the greatest instructor I've ever had in my life. If LS30A is offered with him as the professor, TAKE IT. He is extremely knowledgeable on the LS30 content. His slides are easy to understand and the iClicker questions are really helpful to check for understanding and do practice problems as a class. Lab sections aren't bad, though some of the labs are pretty frustrating (especially as someone who has never done code before). Please take advantage of Prof. Bennoun's office hours; they are so helpful (especially when going over homework questions).

I took this class thinking it would be easy because I took AP Calculus and thought it was manageable. I was also told this class would be an easier version of calculus due to lenient professors and it being geared toward life science students. This turned out to be false. The topics are EXTREMELY abstract and for me, as someone who prefers pure math, it was very difficult to understand. Combined with a total lack of online resources about the topics it was really hard for me to do well on homework and tests. His study guide was significantly easier than the midterm and final so it made it hard to know what to expect. Bennoun is a super nice guy but I despise his class. The coding labs are very difficult if you have never coded before and the homework is not at all similar to lecture topics. Overall, only take this series if you know you will enjoy basically entirely conceptual math (the only math we did was a one day lecture on integrals and even then they were extremely basic and short lived).

I loved professor Bennoun!!! He is very clear throughout the lectures as well as being very engaging and fun to listen to. The lectures were very straight forward and participation was measured through iclicker. Bennoun is all about active learning so he gives a lot of practice questions throughout the lectures which is fun because you get to try out the material before having to struggle through it on your own n you get to ask questions if anything is unclear. The labs on the other hand... I hated the labs. The labs solely consisted of coding which is never mentioned in the lectures (like ever). I had no coding experience and so I had to learn python from scratch which was a little tough. The material in the lecture and the coding lab didnt exactly overlap until around week 7. So you are learning two completely different things for a while. The homework is pretty decent. You get one assignment per week plus if you don't finish the coding lab you need to do that before your next lab meeting. The homework assignments were pretty tough so I went to office hours most weeks to get help on a few of the problems. Test wise there are two midterms (one individual, one group) and three finals (one individual, one individual for coding, and one group). The tests certainly aren't easy but they aren't bad if you are prepared (I wasn't haha). Overall this class wasn't that bad. I put in about medium effort so I would definitely try harder if I could go back but it pretty easy to get a good grade in the class.

maybe I just could not understand the fake math of 30b but this class sucked. Bennoun was great for 30A so thought he would be great for 30B but it sucked. He taught the concepts horribly and I ended up going to other professors office hours because he was so unhelpful (and they taught the material way better). with this said he did round up on my grade but even after studying for the midterm and final for 2 weeks I still failed. take this class with shevstov or conley (their exams were also easier)

Bennoun is a great professor! Don't get me wrong. However, DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE. TAKE ANOTHER MATH COURSE. DON'T DO IT. Personally I have a bone to pick with my NSA for telling me I needed to take this course and this course only, when there were other math courses I could have taken. Just to reiterate, Bennoun is a great professor, but this review is for the course overall (across all professors, since the material is the same regardless of who is teaching it). For context: I'm an MCDB major, and in high school I excelled in math. I got a 4 on AP Calc AB (during COVID, but the second year, when the tests were in person again) and had a AP Calc teacher that was really strict and nationally rated/awarded for teaching. That being said, when I went to college, I expected math that introduced new concepts but wasn't necessarily more difficult....This course made me feel like I was losing brain cells. We hardly do any actual math (which, if you don't like math, then...cool, I guess!), but instead the math is all a bit...theoretical? Like, "what would happen if we changed this variable?" or "why does the human body do this? (????????)" instead of like, "solve this equation" or "derive this solution" or something similar and more straightforward. Admittedly, the class is easy, so if what I said seems good for you, then cool, take the class. However, the worst thing in this class was not the class itself but the labs. I knew the labs involved coding but not to this extent. The first two or three labs were relatively easy even if you weren't paying attention, but then all of a sudden you're running out of time on the labs because you spent 45 minutes trying to figure out why you're getting a syntax error in a code you've typed millions of times before, and then it turns out that you have an extra space somewhere, or a semi-colon instead of a colon, or a myriad of dumb little mistakes. Sometimes labs would take me days to figure out because I would get frustrated, and wouldn't want to go back and finish them. However, I got through the labs! Now I'm in LS 30B, and guess what? I hate it. The labs are exponentially more difficult. The jump from 30A to 30B is less like a jump and more like a 100m sprint. I really, really, really, REALLY wish I had taken another math course, but at this point it's more cost-effective to just finish the class and suffer until March.
Don't take the class if you don't have to. Seriously.

I loved LS 30A and now am a Learning Assistant for 30A and B. Lecture attendance is tracked by iClicker. Some background in calculus could help in this class, but is by no means necessary; you don't learn much more beyond basic derivative rules. I found this class really interesting because of its applications of mathematical concepts. It will definitely be different from what you might expect from a typical math course, which I honestly really appreciated as someone who usually finds a hard time in math. I remember Dr. Bennoun being very helpful during office hours, which I attended more often in taking LS 30B, which was more math-heavy. Definitely utilize Problem-Solving Sessions, even if Dr. Bennoun doesn't advertise them anymore-you can find the schedules from Shevstov's class. They are changing the content of the course to Python in Fall 2024, so labs will be different.

Professor Bennoun has got to be one of the best professors for LS30B. He was very detailed in his explanations, except for one topic which happened to be on the final, which stopped me from getting an A in the class, but you know whatever i guess, overall he was cool, take him, go to office hours, maybe not PSS those were ALWAYS packed, and it was literally only one TA and LA for like 30+ students sometimes and it was just counter productive. His office hours are helpful though. Homework was GREAT practice for the exams. Labs were hard though. Also they didn't let us see our finals in the end so we couldn't argue for points back smh, i was so close to an A

Great lectures content-wise, but horrible testing methods. The textbook didn't really match up with what was being taught. Labs were fairly easy if a lot of practice and time was put into them. The group project was awesome.

Enjoyed this class and much easier than traditional calculus for sure! Great option for all those bio majors who want to avoid calc at all costs! Be prepared to code, but as long as you ask your TAs and LAs for help you’ll be okay!

This class (in my opinion) is a really stupid class. All the material feels made up and it is intergraded with coding that doesn't relate to the material you are learning about. You have 2 lectures a week in which the professor will do notes on slides that he provides in Bruin learn and you have a lab once a week that is a coding lab with your TA. This lab will make you want to die if you have never coded before. You have one homework assignment, one pre-lab quiz, and your lab that is due each week. Your total grade will be composed of all these things plus a midterm, final, clicker questions (participation), and a lab practical (test on coding). You will be provided practice tests for the midterm and finals that are pretty true to what you will be given- but don't be fooled because he gives other professors practice tests instead of his own so you'll have to determine for yourself if all the info given is useful or not. In conclusion it's rough.
I really liked this professor. He is nice and remembers your name if you go to his office hours. He tries to help his students the best that he can and he'll get annoyed if the class is struggling but not showing up to office hours. He give extra credit every now and again that in the end will bump you up to the next grade if you need it. I think he takes pity on us because everyone was so confused the entire. Live laugh love Bennounie