--> Professor Arant's linear algebra was the fairest and most well-taught class I've taken at UCLA so far. Here is my summary of the class, with more detail below:
• He is very well-organized (on BruinLearn, in class, in communication), teaches well, happily answers questions, occasionally tells jokes (of varying levels of funniness), and is able to explain his mastery of the material very well
• He really does care about student learning and holds several office hours per week (you can schedule your own with him via email, see below)
• The midterms and final are very fair (all are free-response, no multiple choice, and he does give partial credit generously!), covering only material covered in the lecture notes (and nothing else, thank god)
• Lecture notes are provided, thorough, and all that's needed to learn the material
• The textbook (where the homework questions are), as well as the answer key, are available as free, online pdfs if you google the right thing
• I never once attended a discussion section (I don't even know my TA's name) because it was at 8 am on the other side of campus (no thanks I need my sleep), and I was perfectly fine without them :)
• This is a classic class where if you stay on top of your work, actually go to class, pay attention, and try, you will easily pass and get an A
• Linear Algebra is very different from calculus or algebra, and it can be hard to think differently than previous math classes
--> The structure of this class is one homework a week (which usually took me anywhere from 3-8 hours, depending on how challenging the topic is, though I know people who did it faster than that), with 2 midterms and 1 final. He provides practice exams on BruinLearn, which are excellent representations of what the actual exam will be like (especially pay attention to the topics covered on the practice exam, they are almost always the same as what will be on the real exam), and there is enough time to finish them if you know what you're doing. Review the material and actual study, and you will be fine. There are also quizzes on Gradescope that need to be completed before each class, but they involve only reading parts of the textbook and can be done in ~5 minutes (just use Control - F).
-->The grade calculation is as such:
15% pre-class quizzes (3 lowest are dropped, eg. if you forgot or were out of town)
20% homework (graded for completion, the lowest one is dropped)

AND

15% Midterm 1 + 15% Midterm 2 + 35% Final

OR

20% Better Midterm + 45% Final
--> I cannot emphasize enough how willing Professor Arant is to help his students. He's not the most approachable person but was always happy to talk to me after class and schedule meetings with me individually. Several times during the quarter, I emailed him that I was really struggling with a specific topic and he quickly agreed to hold an in-person, 1-on-1 session with him in his office, where he made sure I understood the topic and offered any other help I might need. He really does care about his student's learning and well-being and is more than happy to help outside of class. The key here is to be proactive on your own and reach out to him!
--> The only downside was that this class was at 8 am and on the other side of campus from the Hill, so it was pretty brutal waking up in the morning. However, he recorded his lectures and put his completed lecture notes on BruinLearn, so it was definitely ok to miss a few lectures (I definitely did).
--> Overall, I highly recommend taking this class with Arant. He teaches well, you will learn a lot, and the workload is very manageable. The class isn't easy, but 100% doable. Good luck!

arant the goat

He is very concise in lectures and tells you exactly what you need to know. Additionally, I felt he was really knowledgeable about the applications of linear algebra and was more than excited to share with the class how what we were learning was relevant to the real world. He also encouraged us to take more math classes - you could tell that he’s truly enthusiastic about his profession!

This class seems to have undergone some changes from the F22 offering, but is not quite as bad as the other reviewer from this quarter makes it out to be.

First of all, the grading scheme seems to have been altered to make the class significantly more challenging. Instead of 65% exams, we had 80% exams (20% for each of two midterms and 40% final, or 25% better midterm + 55% final). No cheatsheets are allowed, so you have to diligently memorize every detail in addition to understanding the concepts. The midterms were pretty reasonable if you studied, but the final exam was difficult. My biggest gripe with Arant was that he lied that there would be a curve. When we got our midterm grades, we were shown curved grade cutoffs for exam scores, and he also said that he would curve the final exam according to standard deviation. However, he ended up not curving any of the exams at all. I still think getting an A in this course is doable though -- you just can't rely on the curve to save you. If you truly use all the resources Arant provides at your disposal, such as studying the lecture notes well, memorizing all the important details, redoing homework problems, doing the additional suggested practice problems, doing his practice exams, and going to his office hours (which he hosts more frequently around exams) if you're confused about something, you should have no trouble getting an A. Reading through that, I just realized that sounds like a lot, but someone smarter than me could probably achieve the same results with half the effort lol.

As for other changes to the course, quizzes are once per week instead of before each class. They are pretty easy and only 10% of the grade. The lowest quiz is dropped. Also, contrary to previous reviews discussing the time-consuming nature of the homeworks, the homeworks this quarter were relatively quick. Each homework took me on average 2-3 hours at a relaxed pace, which is saying a lot since I'm a pretty slow worker.

Aside from that, the previous reviews are correct that Arant is a very organized professor who is willing to help students succeed. Just know that it is up to you to fully leverage the resources Arant provides.

You are probably looking at all the buinwalk ratings for this class and see that this class should be a easy A. Here is my word of advice. Stay away from Tyler and take this class with another professor. Remove this class from your class planner if you want to save your gpa. You are not him. According to everyone I have talked to 33A is supposed to be a little tedious but not impossible. Tyler makes it impossible. No note card allowed in the midterms or finals and the practice exams are nothing like the real thing.

This class is a major pre-req for me and I took this before I took Math 32 series. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. The component of this class is pre-lecture quizzes (often reading based, he assigns you a chapter and a quiz that goes with it to do for homework), homework (he gives a fair amount of textbook problems as well as his own problems), midterm 1 + midterm 2 (they are both very fair tests. He would only test you on stuff that he already went over), final (which I found the hardest out of all things I did in his class but he does curve it). Also, if you are ever unclear about certain concepts or homework questions, go to his office hours or his TA's office hours. I found those pretty helpful!

I came back to comment after finishing this course 2 months later just to tell you how brilliant this professor is. My fav professor for math classes so far. Really learnt a lot from this class. He explains everything extremely well, is willing to go over everything step by step, and is a really nice & approachable professor in general. Homeworks took time but were doable; exams were fair and not so hard as long as you've studied. TAKE him as long as you get a chance. You won't regret.

Prof arant is very willing to clarify questions explain further; his homeworks often took longer than I would have wanted to spend on a homework set, but if you go to his office hours you can get help. The TA strike this quarter was a little unfortunate, though, cuz I feel like I needed as much clarification as I could get esp towards the end of the quarter.

Generally I felt like this course is pretty different from calculus and it was honestly slightly confusing to picture what I was learning, but after a while the math gets pretty repetitive, so if you can get really good at solving problems you should be fine. he does include a couple explanation type problems on exams tho, so having a strong theoretical understanding never hurts.

Best Professor for math Ive had by a lot. Highly recommend