I technically didn't need to take this class since I got a 5 on AP Calc, but I had self-studied for the test in like 4 days and felt like I didn't really know the material, so I thought it would be better to take this class so that I'm not lost in Math 31B. A lot of people told me that it would be a waste of time, but I'm glad I didn't listen to them. I found this class very valuable and helpful. Conley gave engaging lectures and he explained the concepts very clearly and did a lot of examples. He went above and beyond, as he held 4-5 hour long review sessions before each exam just to help us out. I thought the review sessions were very helpful; before each exam, I only watched the recorded review session and nothing else, and was able to get 100 on all the tests. So even if you feel comfortable with the material, I'd recommend the review sessions, as the examples he goes over are very similar to the material on the actual tests. He also gave us optional practice tests before each test.

As for participation, lecture attendance isn't mandatory but discussion attendance is. However, attending discussion only accounts for 5% of your grade. During each discussion, there is a worksheet to do. The worksheets took me about 40-60 minutes each. The lowest one gets dropped. Worksheets comprise 10% of the grade, and the lowest two are dropped. I personally found the worksheets to be helpful.

There is also homework on Achieve about once a week. One thing I found a bit annoying was that the homework was due a different day each week; it would have been nicer to have a constant day/time it was due. The homework problems are much harder than what is covered in class IMO, but we get unlimited attempts and a wrong attempt doesn't really decrease your grade a lot, so it's overall not that hard to do well on the homework, especially if you use GroupMe. The lowest homework gets dropped. Each homework usually took me about 2 hours, but the harder ones took me 3-4. The homeworks are 15% of the grade total. There was a homework due on finals week which was really not cool, but I emailed Conley for an extension and he allowed it.

The exams were alright; they weren't as hard as the homework. But for us they were 24 hour online open-note tests, so I'm pretty sure they'd be harder in person.

There are two schemes for grading. In the first, the two midterms are 20% each and the final is 30%. In the second, the highest of the two midterms is 30% (the lower is 0%) and the final is 40%. This means that if you do really poorly on one of the midterms, you can still get a good grade.

Conley is an amazing professor. His lectures are super clear and somehow engaging, using a combination of slides and equations/diagrams drawn on the whiteboard. He answers questions frequently and thoroughly in lecture and office hours, and he clearly cares about his students' success. And he erases whiteboards so energetically it gives me hope for humanity.

the lectures were not recorded, but he does record any review sessions he holds before midterms/finals! i really liked taking this class because he made it really easy to understand the material. the only annoying part was having to buy the book to use achieve (even then the achieve assignments are easy to score high on so it kinda pays off)

Best, most dedicated math professor I've seen from UCLA. I hated taking math classes but I felt fine in this class and actually looked forward to it. His lectures are so clear and never makes you feel dumb for asking questions. His office hours were very helpful, and they could get pretty packed but he really spends time on the questions you ask. Exams were reflective of class content, just make sure you can understand homework and practice questions.

Prof. Conley really cares about students mastering the material which is evident through the mandatory lectures and videos. The videos he posts are sometimes a lot in addition to homework (there were participation questions to ensure you watched them) but they were a really helpful resource if you were confused on something. Overall you can really tell that Prof. Conley is really passionate about math and teaching and he really tried his best to make sure that everyone could succeed in the class. He was also very enthusiastic about answering questions during his office hours as well.

This Professor is very good in terms of clarity. He made the content so clear I oftentimes felt I didn't need to study for exams too much which probably backfired. I was expecting a better grade in the class but I guess its fine. I recommend this professor for a hard class!

Professor Conley is one of the best professors I have taken a class with. He is a very good lecturer and often uses visual representations to go along with the explanations he gives in class. He also includes a lot of examples in lecture. If you're stuck on homework or are confused, go to office hours. He will spend hours making sure you understand the material and will walk through tough homework problems with you. He also holds 3+ hour review sessions before each exam and essentially tells you exactly what will be on the test in terms of topics.

This class is relatively tough, since it is multivariable calculus, and the tests were sometimes a little unreasonable (just my opinion). I honestly think it's just because Professor Conley is a genius and underestimates how hard some problems can be. Despite this, I would definitely take this class again with him. It's a cool way to look at how biology and math intersect.

Hands down my favorite class and professor at UCLA. I took this class Winter '23 with Prof. Jukka (who is also great but I believe he switched departments n no longer teaches this course), but had to retake the class due to unforeseen circumstances, but boy did Conley make it worth it. He is such an engaging professor and really explains the concepts unambiguously so you'd understand. He does use iClicker, but those are easy points so I highly recommend not being lazy and just go to class. The format of his lectures is essentially pre-class videos that have questions riddled throughout to check comprehension. You have unlimited attempts on these questions so these are also easy points. Sometimes the preclass videos can be long but they. are. worth. it. Honestly, if iClicker wasn't a thing, you should breeze through this class on the pre-class videos alone. There is a coding lab that coincides with this course... I don't have much to say about this cuz I'm not a huge fan of coding but it's what you'd expect of SageMath (think 30A). The coding practical is replaced with a group Capstone project that will start around Week 7. Every week (even during the Capstone), you will have a lab assignment due before lab and there's weekly HW that shouldn't take more than 3 hours. There's one midterm and a final, no cheatsheet or graphing calculator is allowed. But it is practically a copy and paste of the practice exams (which is rather rare). There is almost guaranteed going to be at least one question that's the exact same format as the practice, maybe just diff numbers---this is especially the case if you see the same problem set format on every practice exam (he typically releases 3 practice exams). All this to say, I love Conley. TAKE HIM! You seriously won't regret it.

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.

At first, I would complain about Conley for not posting slides or for having so much coding in his homework. As I went on with the quarter though, I came to really, really appreciate his teaching. He's so passionate and clearly cares about what he's teaching-- the math, the coding, yadayada. To the point that some people call him a yapper since he can yap a couple minutes past the end of lecture ("we still have a couple minutes! we have time for another problem" - conley 1 minute before the lecture is over), but I honestly like that about him. He's a wholesome fellow. And his explanations when you ask for help are super elaborate, like he will gladly volunteer to explain to you material beyond the scope of the class that leaves you in a tizzy if you want him to.
The exams are pretty true to what we do in class, so there aren't really any curveballs. Do problem solving sessions. Go to office hours if you need help. I appreciate that we are provided 3-4 practice exams a week prior for preparation, it helps a lot. And the coding is much easier than LS30A. In LS30A, having come in without any experience of coding, I was tripping over my own feet over for loops and creating lists every single week. But in LS30B, you're not really learning new coding skills, it's mostly just copy pasting & doing parameter scans. Trust me, after a whole quarter of LS30A, you really do familiarize yourself with all you need to know for LS30B.
One warning is that if you did not take calculus before, you should definitely brush up on your derivative skills, because we go into derivatives more toward the end of the quarter with optimization and all that jazz. But derivative rules are provided on the exams, so it's not that bad-- I think.