I had a great experience with this class, even though I’m definitely not a “math person” and came in pretty nervous. This is the first time I’ve ever gotten an A+ in a more advanced math class and this is my first quarter. For context, I came in with a 4 on the AP Calc AB exam. I was worried this class would be much harder, but it was actually far less in-depth and significantly easier than AP Calc. I never used the textbook, except to find practice questions for the final.

Professor Adkisson was very clear when teaching the material. He records all the lectures, which was super helpful, and he’s also pretty self-aware about when he goes on tangents about theorems that aren’t directly relevant to the exams. Alex, the TA, was also a nice person.

The study guides were helpful for understanding the format and types of problems, but they aren’t verbatim copies of the exams. For the harder topics (like optimization and related rates), the key is repeatedly practicing different variations of those problems from lecture. Homework is short - one graded module a week - which isn't too difficult. There is a graded quiz during discussion but it's usually the most basic question/concept from the homework.

Some of my friends had Edith Zhang, and based on our experiences, Adkisson is a much clearer lecturer and his exams are drastically easier.