Professor
Will Conley
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Most Helpful Review
I have professor Conley right now and he's soooo good. The way he lectures allows me to absorb all the knowledge, and the fact that he checks whether everyone understands the concepts or not is soooo helpful. You need to take LS30A with him, you just HAVE to. I'm starting off my career at UCLA with a huge smile.
I have professor Conley right now and he's soooo good. The way he lectures allows me to absorb all the knowledge, and the fact that he checks whether everyone understands the concepts or not is soooo helpful. You need to take LS30A with him, you just HAVE to. I'm starting off my career at UCLA with a huge smile.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Dr. Conley gives the best lectures. He goes over every question with great detail in office hours and hosts 3-hour review session before each exam. He truly cares about student learning, though his homework sometimes would take a while to finish. 115A struck me as a hard class at first, but I ended up way better than I expected thanks to Conley. I wish he could teach more upper divs in the future! 🥰
Winter 2022 - Dr. Conley gives the best lectures. He goes over every question with great detail in office hours and hosts 3-hour review session before each exam. He truly cares about student learning, though his homework sometimes would take a while to finish. 115A struck me as a hard class at first, but I ended up way better than I expected thanks to Conley. I wish he could teach more upper divs in the future! 🥰
Most Helpful Review
Conley is hands down the best lecturer I've had here at UCLA. although he is a bit slow he teaches the content in a way that is clear and coherent. If you still don't understand or have additional question he is almost always available by appointment or in office hours which he normally extends until all questions are answered. I've taken him for 2 quarters consecutively now (33b and 115a) and I'm certain that if there's any abstract math topic out there, Conley is the best one to explain it.
Conley is hands down the best lecturer I've had here at UCLA. although he is a bit slow he teaches the content in a way that is clear and coherent. If you still don't understand or have additional question he is almost always available by appointment or in office hours which he normally extends until all questions are answered. I've taken him for 2 quarters consecutively now (33b and 115a) and I'm certain that if there's any abstract math topic out there, Conley is the best one to explain it.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Wow, this class threw me for a loop. Very interesting class, and Will is great, but I was not expecting this class to involve what it did. Will is a great lecturer and very accommodating. He will do these marathon review sessions for each exam that are very helpful. He also made the decision to let us use a double sided formula sheet for the final and a scientific calculator (get one that has a “mod” function or “remainder” function on it). He’s also extremely fair with grades. I struggled a lot in this class and still got a B- so that should hopefully encourage you. I will say though, if you’re going to take this class, get good at number theory (modular arithmetic, prime numbers, etc), Python, and maybe some Abstract Algebra (MATH 110A, 110B and maybe even 110C) before you take this class. The only prerequisite for this class is MATH 115A (Linear Algebra), but I think you should know how to use Python, maybe have taken MATH 11N, MATH 111, MATH 110A, MATH 110B, or some number theoretical algebraic class or lots of self study on it. I would imagine if the wrong professor taught this class (Will is great, so not him) students would be in for a rude awakening drowning in Python homework and a bunch of number theory that they never learned. You also get three grading schemes and an optional final paper/project you can submit at the end of the class on a topic of your choice regarding cryptology stuff, ranging from more abstract mathematical stuff to more applied, concrete examples like the Enigma machine or blockchain (he advises against blockchain cause it’s very advanced and easy to mess up). So, I’d say if you’re really good with Number Theory, Algebra, Python, and maybe just math in general, you’ll really enjoy this class. If those things are brand new to you like it was for me, I think you’ll still be okay, but you’ll hurt a little bit lol. I’m still really glad I took the class. One of the most interesting, stimulating classes I’ve ever taken here at UCLA. Probably wouldn’t take again until I took MATH 11N, MATH 110A and MATH 111.
Winter 2024 - Wow, this class threw me for a loop. Very interesting class, and Will is great, but I was not expecting this class to involve what it did. Will is a great lecturer and very accommodating. He will do these marathon review sessions for each exam that are very helpful. He also made the decision to let us use a double sided formula sheet for the final and a scientific calculator (get one that has a “mod” function or “remainder” function on it). He’s also extremely fair with grades. I struggled a lot in this class and still got a B- so that should hopefully encourage you. I will say though, if you’re going to take this class, get good at number theory (modular arithmetic, prime numbers, etc), Python, and maybe some Abstract Algebra (MATH 110A, 110B and maybe even 110C) before you take this class. The only prerequisite for this class is MATH 115A (Linear Algebra), but I think you should know how to use Python, maybe have taken MATH 11N, MATH 111, MATH 110A, MATH 110B, or some number theoretical algebraic class or lots of self study on it. I would imagine if the wrong professor taught this class (Will is great, so not him) students would be in for a rude awakening drowning in Python homework and a bunch of number theory that they never learned. You also get three grading schemes and an optional final paper/project you can submit at the end of the class on a topic of your choice regarding cryptology stuff, ranging from more abstract mathematical stuff to more applied, concrete examples like the Enigma machine or blockchain (he advises against blockchain cause it’s very advanced and easy to mess up). So, I’d say if you’re really good with Number Theory, Algebra, Python, and maybe just math in general, you’ll really enjoy this class. If those things are brand new to you like it was for me, I think you’ll still be okay, but you’ll hurt a little bit lol. I’m still really glad I took the class. One of the most interesting, stimulating classes I’ve ever taken here at UCLA. Probably wouldn’t take again until I took MATH 11N, MATH 110A and MATH 111.
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Most Helpful Review
Actual Course: Life Science 30A (the new pre-med math sequence) A lot of people are confused about the actual class, as I was when I first decided to take it. Life Science 30A is a math class. It is supposedly "calculus" based, but we only used first derivatives and quotient rule and product rule. The main meat of the class is about mathematical modeling and differential equations, though we don't go into any of the "math" stuff of differential equations at all. We focus on the concepts. The computer programming part of the course threw me off at first, but the TAs are very helpful and understanding during lab sections and will help you with your coding. Also, there is no coding on any exams in the class. As for Conley, he is a great teacher, and I have no complaints. I've been to 2 of his office hours and he was extremely helpful each time. Also, he is NOT boring, which is something really unique about a math professor.
Actual Course: Life Science 30A (the new pre-med math sequence) A lot of people are confused about the actual class, as I was when I first decided to take it. Life Science 30A is a math class. It is supposedly "calculus" based, but we only used first derivatives and quotient rule and product rule. The main meat of the class is about mathematical modeling and differential equations, though we don't go into any of the "math" stuff of differential equations at all. We focus on the concepts. The computer programming part of the course threw me off at first, but the TAs are very helpful and understanding during lab sections and will help you with your coding. Also, there is no coding on any exams in the class. As for Conley, he is a great teacher, and I have no complaints. I've been to 2 of his office hours and he was extremely helpful each time. Also, he is NOT boring, which is something really unique about a math professor.
Most Helpful Review
Actual class taken: LS30A Okay, so I have LS30A with Professor Conley this quarter, and he is REALLY awesome! I still can't believe that he knows my first name. That's incredible. The material is very interesting, and he is SUPER clear in his lectures. Sometimes, I think that the material we're learning is a bit too easy, but I feel that it's because Professor Conley is JUST THAT GOOD at explaining the concepts. The class isn't curved, which is awesome, and if you didn't do too well on the first midterm, the final can be worth 100%! Professor Conley truly believes that everyone in class can do well, and I believe in him too. Now, I'm not much of a computer programmer, but I have to admit that I wouldn't be able to do as well in Sage without Jane and Myki. I can see that they truly want me to succeed in the class, and they explain concepts to us that REALLY clear. I wasn't quite understanding the "for-loop" for Sage for a while, and Myki gave me just the most intuitive understanding for it. At first, I always asked myself "WHY does this work that way, and WHY does Sage seem to show me an answer when I put some code in", and he gave me some breakthrough insight and some amazing explanations that all of a sudden, made things so clear. I asked him if he had office hours, but unfortunately, he's an undergraduate T/A, so he doesn't have office hours :( He's REALLY smart and SUPER nice :) He even gave us an impromptu midterm review before our midterm, which REALLY helped me for the exam. I think he'll be t/a-ing again next quarter, so be sure to find him! Also, Jane has office hours, but get there quick because they're always PACKED. If you email Conley to set up a one on one appointment, he will make time for you, which is SUPER cool, especially considering how popular and busy Conley is. You NEED to take this class with Conley!!!
Actual class taken: LS30A Okay, so I have LS30A with Professor Conley this quarter, and he is REALLY awesome! I still can't believe that he knows my first name. That's incredible. The material is very interesting, and he is SUPER clear in his lectures. Sometimes, I think that the material we're learning is a bit too easy, but I feel that it's because Professor Conley is JUST THAT GOOD at explaining the concepts. The class isn't curved, which is awesome, and if you didn't do too well on the first midterm, the final can be worth 100%! Professor Conley truly believes that everyone in class can do well, and I believe in him too. Now, I'm not much of a computer programmer, but I have to admit that I wouldn't be able to do as well in Sage without Jane and Myki. I can see that they truly want me to succeed in the class, and they explain concepts to us that REALLY clear. I wasn't quite understanding the "for-loop" for Sage for a while, and Myki gave me just the most intuitive understanding for it. At first, I always asked myself "WHY does this work that way, and WHY does Sage seem to show me an answer when I put some code in", and he gave me some breakthrough insight and some amazing explanations that all of a sudden, made things so clear. I asked him if he had office hours, but unfortunately, he's an undergraduate T/A, so he doesn't have office hours :( He's REALLY smart and SUPER nice :) He even gave us an impromptu midterm review before our midterm, which REALLY helped me for the exam. I think he'll be t/a-ing again next quarter, so be sure to find him! Also, Jane has office hours, but get there quick because they're always PACKED. If you email Conley to set up a one on one appointment, he will make time for you, which is SUPER cool, especially considering how popular and busy Conley is. You NEED to take this class with Conley!!!
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