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- Wenpin Tang
- MATH 31B
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Based on 12 Users
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- Tolerates Tardiness
- Needs Textbook
- Useful Textbooks
- Tough Tests
- Appropriately Priced Materials
Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.
Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.
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Having took Calculus BC in high school, I wanted to take 31B as a review and to relearn series (since I hear that college math classes were very different). While I did well in high school, he managed to confuse me, from his heavy accent to his especially confusing and disorganized lectures.
Most of the class was self-study, and thankfully I found two friends in this class whom I could study with them. His actual midterms and finals were definitely harder than the practice midterm and final he handed out, so be wary when he hands those out in class, because they aren't similar. I personally did okay in the class, but I recommend to find another teacher if you can.
You can hardly understand him and his lectures and explanations are super confusing. The discussion is very helpful for clarification on the topics. There are only two HW assignments collected and graded all quarter. The first midterm was so easy, the second was super hard, and the final was so impossible he had to give hints in the middle of the test. Only nice part was that we got cheat sheets for all the tests.
Math 31B with Prof Tang is a good option for those who have a fairly decent background in math in high school and do not really bother to retain what you learned for future uses. For me personally, I'm not a math-related major and it is the last math class I need to take in college for major prerequisites. Most of my peers in this class are probably non-math majors as I could tell from the grade distribution, so no peer pressure and trust the curve. But overall, I don't feel like Tang's way of engaging with material enables me to actually learn much from him, but as long as you follow his lectures and do practices before exams, passing the tests and getting an A is absolutely doable (with very very light workload)!
Professor Tang is a nice guy and pretty funny at times, but he doesn't know how to teach. The lectures are really confusing, and the tests are really hard. Even the people who already took this class (AP Calc BC) in high school are confused during lecture. He likes to go on long, unnecessary proofs sometimes, and he's not the greatest at explaining concepts. My TA was way more helpful than Professor Tang.
The good thing about this class is that he curves the entire class so that the lowest possible grade you can get is a C. He curves it so that it's 30% A, 40% B, and 30% C. So it is impossible to fail this class.
You also don't need to buy the textbook, he gives you a pdf from which he will assign homework every week.
Not a great lecturer. Writes very small on the board, skips steps when doing problems, and often uses unintuitive academic language when explaining concepts. I ended up using Paul's Notes during most of the lectures to follow what was going on. Not that the material is especially difficult, but just that it can be hard to understand what Tang says.
There were 4 HW assignments throughout the quarter, and only three were graded. They were graded for correctness, so do them carefully. Before each exam, Tang gives out a practice exam. TAKE THESE SERIOUSLY, because they closely resemble the actual exam. He lets you have a cheat sheet for each exam, so write down those problems and their solutions. The midterms were challenging but doable (90% and 60% averages); the final was quite difficult (49% average).
Overall an okay class. Don't rely on lectures for learning the material and do study the book and prepare for hard problems.
I haven't taken any AP Calc before so most of the materials in this course are new to me. Honestly, Tang is not a very clear lecturer. He might be hard to follow sometimes, but when you get used to his style you will know what steps he skipped when doing the problems, and those steps are really not that hard to understand. The workload is really light. We only turned 3 homework in the entire quarter. The first midterm was extremely easy, and the second one was pretty fair as well. Nothing beyond what we learned in class. The final was difficult. There is one question that didn't resemble the type of question we did before, but Tang gave the hint during the exam, and this helped me. I think for this class, as long as you figure out all the fundamentals and basic stuff, an A is very doable. Even though you might get stuck on a few hard questions on the final, if you did all the other ones right, you will still get a good grade. Remember what determined your grade is not how hard this course is, but how smart your peers are. There's no need to panic when you saw a really difficult question on the exam because most of the other students probably do not know how to solve it as well.
Took this class coming from AP Calculus BC, so I already had a general grasp about the material before hand.
Tang is a confusing lecturer. He often skips steps when doing practice problems and his way of explaining proofs for the topics are near incomprehensible, which makes it vv difficult to follow along. If you don't know the material before this course, you would probably have to self teach the concepts w the book, but I heard he's pretty clear when you ask in office hours. While Tang is not the best lecturer, he has a very light workload. I think there was a total of 4 homework but 3 were turned in and only 2 were graded, the last one was also just practice for the final.
For his midterms, you always get a single sided cheat sheet along with any calculator. His first midterm was practically identical to the practice midterm he sent out(median was 90%+), while the second midterm was significantly harder than the practice ( the median for it was like 60% ). For his final you get 2 cheat sheets (front and back) but no calculator, and that final was ridiculously harder than his tests before (the median was around 40-49%) . I would only recommend taking his class if you have a strong grasp of the material beforehand, otherwise you should take another class.
Do not take this class with this professor. Going to lecture will be a literal waste of your time because you can’t understand a damn thing he says or writes, and he goes so fast and rarely explains questions well. I’ve had to teach myself everything I don’t know out of the book or from office hours with my TA. Its easy because you get a whole page cheat sheet for tests, but literally did not learn a damn thing on the sheet. He’s one of the people that makes me ask myself: where is my money going? Is this really what im paying 34,000 dollars a year for? Shame. Shame.
Having took Calculus BC in high school, I wanted to take 31B as a review and to relearn series (since I hear that college math classes were very different). While I did well in high school, he managed to confuse me, from his heavy accent to his especially confusing and disorganized lectures.
Most of the class was self-study, and thankfully I found two friends in this class whom I could study with them. His actual midterms and finals were definitely harder than the practice midterm and final he handed out, so be wary when he hands those out in class, because they aren't similar. I personally did okay in the class, but I recommend to find another teacher if you can.
You can hardly understand him and his lectures and explanations are super confusing. The discussion is very helpful for clarification on the topics. There are only two HW assignments collected and graded all quarter. The first midterm was so easy, the second was super hard, and the final was so impossible he had to give hints in the middle of the test. Only nice part was that we got cheat sheets for all the tests.
Math 31B with Prof Tang is a good option for those who have a fairly decent background in math in high school and do not really bother to retain what you learned for future uses. For me personally, I'm not a math-related major and it is the last math class I need to take in college for major prerequisites. Most of my peers in this class are probably non-math majors as I could tell from the grade distribution, so no peer pressure and trust the curve. But overall, I don't feel like Tang's way of engaging with material enables me to actually learn much from him, but as long as you follow his lectures and do practices before exams, passing the tests and getting an A is absolutely doable (with very very light workload)!
Professor Tang is a nice guy and pretty funny at times, but he doesn't know how to teach. The lectures are really confusing, and the tests are really hard. Even the people who already took this class (AP Calc BC) in high school are confused during lecture. He likes to go on long, unnecessary proofs sometimes, and he's not the greatest at explaining concepts. My TA was way more helpful than Professor Tang.
The good thing about this class is that he curves the entire class so that the lowest possible grade you can get is a C. He curves it so that it's 30% A, 40% B, and 30% C. So it is impossible to fail this class.
You also don't need to buy the textbook, he gives you a pdf from which he will assign homework every week.
Not a great lecturer. Writes very small on the board, skips steps when doing problems, and often uses unintuitive academic language when explaining concepts. I ended up using Paul's Notes during most of the lectures to follow what was going on. Not that the material is especially difficult, but just that it can be hard to understand what Tang says.
There were 4 HW assignments throughout the quarter, and only three were graded. They were graded for correctness, so do them carefully. Before each exam, Tang gives out a practice exam. TAKE THESE SERIOUSLY, because they closely resemble the actual exam. He lets you have a cheat sheet for each exam, so write down those problems and their solutions. The midterms were challenging but doable (90% and 60% averages); the final was quite difficult (49% average).
Overall an okay class. Don't rely on lectures for learning the material and do study the book and prepare for hard problems.
I haven't taken any AP Calc before so most of the materials in this course are new to me. Honestly, Tang is not a very clear lecturer. He might be hard to follow sometimes, but when you get used to his style you will know what steps he skipped when doing the problems, and those steps are really not that hard to understand. The workload is really light. We only turned 3 homework in the entire quarter. The first midterm was extremely easy, and the second one was pretty fair as well. Nothing beyond what we learned in class. The final was difficult. There is one question that didn't resemble the type of question we did before, but Tang gave the hint during the exam, and this helped me. I think for this class, as long as you figure out all the fundamentals and basic stuff, an A is very doable. Even though you might get stuck on a few hard questions on the final, if you did all the other ones right, you will still get a good grade. Remember what determined your grade is not how hard this course is, but how smart your peers are. There's no need to panic when you saw a really difficult question on the exam because most of the other students probably do not know how to solve it as well.
Took this class coming from AP Calculus BC, so I already had a general grasp about the material before hand.
Tang is a confusing lecturer. He often skips steps when doing practice problems and his way of explaining proofs for the topics are near incomprehensible, which makes it vv difficult to follow along. If you don't know the material before this course, you would probably have to self teach the concepts w the book, but I heard he's pretty clear when you ask in office hours. While Tang is not the best lecturer, he has a very light workload. I think there was a total of 4 homework but 3 were turned in and only 2 were graded, the last one was also just practice for the final.
For his midterms, you always get a single sided cheat sheet along with any calculator. His first midterm was practically identical to the practice midterm he sent out(median was 90%+), while the second midterm was significantly harder than the practice ( the median for it was like 60% ). For his final you get 2 cheat sheets (front and back) but no calculator, and that final was ridiculously harder than his tests before (the median was around 40-49%) . I would only recommend taking his class if you have a strong grasp of the material beforehand, otherwise you should take another class.
Do not take this class with this professor. Going to lecture will be a literal waste of your time because you can’t understand a damn thing he says or writes, and he goes so fast and rarely explains questions well. I’ve had to teach myself everything I don’t know out of the book or from office hours with my TA. Its easy because you get a whole page cheat sheet for tests, but literally did not learn a damn thing on the sheet. He’s one of the people that makes me ask myself: where is my money going? Is this really what im paying 34,000 dollars a year for? Shame. Shame.
Based on 12 Users
TOP TAGS
- Tolerates Tardiness (6)
- Needs Textbook (6)
- Useful Textbooks (7)
- Tough Tests (7)
- Appropriately Priced Materials (5)