Jonathan C Kao
Department of Electrical Engineering
AD
4.9
Overall Rating
Based on 27 Users
Easiness 2.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.7 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.4 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Tough Tests
  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Engaging Lectures
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
  • Gives Extra Credit
  • Would Take Again
  • Snazzy Dresser
  • Often Funny
  • Issues PTEs
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
51.0%
42.5%
34.0%
25.5%
17.0%
8.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

30.4%
25.4%
20.3%
15.2%
10.1%
5.1%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

31.7%
26.5%
21.2%
15.9%
10.6%
5.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

29.3%
24.4%
19.5%
14.6%
9.8%
4.9%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (23)

1 of 3
1 of 3
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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 29, 2021

Professor Kao is great. His lectures are very clear and he works through problems carefully on the board, which makes it easy to follow. He is nice and approachable. He answers questions directly and clearly in class.

The material of the class is tough. The homework will take a long time, but the lectures, discussions, and office hours will help guide you through them. Everything is well organized online and all the resources (including previous tests) were given to us. The final exam was fair and overrode the midterm grade, which was tougher our quarter.

The only complaint I have is of the TAs. They were pretty good, but they each had their faults. Siyou was kind but unclear with her work. Sometimes I couldn't understand how she arrived to her answer because she would not write down much. Still, her grading was much more organized and gave lots of partial credit. Tonmoy was very clear and wrote down great notes from his discussions, which were informative and easy to follow. The issue I had with Tonmoy was that he was harsh. He did not have enough patience with students and would snap at them if they did not understand the material. His grading was often all or nothing. For such a math-heavy class, this seemed excessively harsh.

All the instructors were well-intentioned and the class was a good experience overall. I learned a lot and I would definitely recommend this professor.

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Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 16, 2021

This guy is the ABSOLUTE GOAT. Don't hesitate to take this class. He is one of the best lecturers I've ever seen and he knows how to really make you interested in the material. Office hours are super helpful and the TAs were also great for my quarter. Grading is extremely fair and often times quite generous. You can tell he really cares about his students. Homework is worth doing, not only because it is a fair chunk of your grade, but because the homework problems are interesting, engaging, and not at all tedious. Overall, I recommend Kao more than any other professor I've had yet.

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Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: B+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 14, 2021

Professor Kao is a great lecturer and one of the best professors I've had in the ECE department. This lectures were clear and the homework really aided in understanding the concepts covered in class. The midterm and final were difficult but reasonable, and I would highly recommend taking Kao for 102.

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Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 27, 2020

Professor Kao is possibly one of the best professors I have ever had. He is extremely clear in his teachings and focuses on teaching the intuition behind many of these topics, as opposed to rote memorization. He is always willing to accommodate and help his students. During lectures, he always takes the time to ask if there are any questions, so it is extremely interactive, which can be difficult with online lectures.
The workload is intense and the homework was time consuming; however, the topic is interesting and the homework prepares you well for the midterms and finals.
Overall, I would highly recommend this professor because of his genuine care for his students and clarity in teaching.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A+
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 26, 2020

He is the BEST professor in the ECE department! His lectures are extremely clear and engaging. Although people found his homework to be lengthy and difficult, I found them interesting as they were pretty well-written. He isn't one of those professors who test on things that they've never taught - his midterm and final were really fair and their lengths were manageable. Overall, I would highly recommend taking this class with him as it would probably become one of the most memorable and enjoyable experience in your academic career.

Helpful?

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Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 26, 2020

First things first: there are 7 HWs, 1 midterm (worth 20%) that was of reasonable difficulty (median ~78) and a final (worth 30%) that was harder than the midterm (median ~73). This wasn't too bad, though, since 50% of the course grade weightage was homework.

Kao is definitely the best you're going to get for 102. His lecture presentations are reasonably clear and thorough, although they are heavily theoretical/proof based, which means that you'll probably need pointers from the TAs or other students when doing the homework or studying for exams. Take Kao if you can; you won't regret it.

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0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 25, 2020

Professor Kao is very passionate about teaching. He does his best to make sure that the students understand the concepts covered in this class, which are definitely not the easiest. I took this class during COVID, and he is very understanding of the situation and adjusted the grading scale accordingly. It is also worth mentioning that my TA's were extremely helpful as well. Overall, I'd say Kao tries his best to make the concepts as clear as possible, and I would highly recommend him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Dec. 23, 2020

probably one of the best professors i have had in my academic career. he's really nice and answers a bunch of questions as he covers material. his class was extremely well organized; considering we were in a pandemic, he recorded literally everything he did which made it so convenient. homework takes forever and is graded really hard, but it is like 50 percent of your grade. go to office hours because he helps you solve the questions on the homework. the midterm was open note and open ccle so it was rather straightforward. it also was not proctored. the final was the same format but was substantially more difficult and lengthy. he did seem to grade a lot more lenient and he did relax the grade scale to compensate for the difficulty of the final. overall, an awesome professor. he actually listens to student feedback so if you have any issues i would address them to him. a lot of people early on in the quarter felt that the homework was too lengthy and posted about it indirectly, and the professor fixed it without the students addressing it specifically by giving out credit for certain problems without attempt. he really cares about the learning process and you can tell he's actually happy to teach and impart some knowledge to the students. awesome guy. the class is hard but prof made it bearable. highly recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
June 7, 2020

He really cares about how well students understand the material but when it comes to grades, he's not helpful, his weekly hws are long but easy and doable and it can really help your grade, for me the midterm was extremely hard which I failed it, but he announced in the class that back then when he took this class he failed his midterm and his professor gave him a second chance by replacing the final's grade for midterm and that's what he did for me, even though I aced the final and it got replaced with my midterm, my grade was so close to next letter grade but he didn't curve the class at all, so my advice just do the hws and try your best to get A on final because there is absolutely no curve and final basically determines your grade

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
March 30, 2020

Great class with an amazing professor. He really cares about student learning and is a funny and engaging lecturer. After the midterm, he announced that he would add another grading scheme allowing you to replace your midterm grade with your final grade if you performed better. Also, Kao frequently answered Piazza questions, which I really appreciated.

The homework was a bit challenging, so start early enough that you have time to ask questions.

Very fair instructor, highly recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 29, 2021

Professor Kao is great. His lectures are very clear and he works through problems carefully on the board, which makes it easy to follow. He is nice and approachable. He answers questions directly and clearly in class.

The material of the class is tough. The homework will take a long time, but the lectures, discussions, and office hours will help guide you through them. Everything is well organized online and all the resources (including previous tests) were given to us. The final exam was fair and overrode the midterm grade, which was tougher our quarter.

The only complaint I have is of the TAs. They were pretty good, but they each had their faults. Siyou was kind but unclear with her work. Sometimes I couldn't understand how she arrived to her answer because she would not write down much. Still, her grading was much more organized and gave lots of partial credit. Tonmoy was very clear and wrote down great notes from his discussions, which were informative and easy to follow. The issue I had with Tonmoy was that he was harsh. He did not have enough patience with students and would snap at them if they did not understand the material. His grading was often all or nothing. For such a math-heavy class, this seemed excessively harsh.

All the instructors were well-intentioned and the class was a good experience overall. I learned a lot and I would definitely recommend this professor.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2021
Grade: A
Dec. 16, 2021

This guy is the ABSOLUTE GOAT. Don't hesitate to take this class. He is one of the best lecturers I've ever seen and he knows how to really make you interested in the material. Office hours are super helpful and the TAs were also great for my quarter. Grading is extremely fair and often times quite generous. You can tell he really cares about his students. Homework is worth doing, not only because it is a fair chunk of your grade, but because the homework problems are interesting, engaging, and not at all tedious. Overall, I recommend Kao more than any other professor I've had yet.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: B+
June 14, 2021

Professor Kao is a great lecturer and one of the best professors I've had in the ECE department. This lectures were clear and the homework really aided in understanding the concepts covered in class. The midterm and final were difficult but reasonable, and I would highly recommend taking Kao for 102.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
Dec. 27, 2020

Professor Kao is possibly one of the best professors I have ever had. He is extremely clear in his teachings and focuses on teaching the intuition behind many of these topics, as opposed to rote memorization. He is always willing to accommodate and help his students. During lectures, he always takes the time to ask if there are any questions, so it is extremely interactive, which can be difficult with online lectures.
The workload is intense and the homework was time consuming; however, the topic is interesting and the homework prepares you well for the midterms and finals.
Overall, I would highly recommend this professor because of his genuine care for his students and clarity in teaching.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A+
Dec. 26, 2020

He is the BEST professor in the ECE department! His lectures are extremely clear and engaging. Although people found his homework to be lengthy and difficult, I found them interesting as they were pretty well-written. He isn't one of those professors who test on things that they've never taught - his midterm and final were really fair and their lengths were manageable. Overall, I would highly recommend taking this class with him as it would probably become one of the most memorable and enjoyable experience in your academic career.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Dec. 26, 2020

First things first: there are 7 HWs, 1 midterm (worth 20%) that was of reasonable difficulty (median ~78) and a final (worth 30%) that was harder than the midterm (median ~73). This wasn't too bad, though, since 50% of the course grade weightage was homework.

Kao is definitely the best you're going to get for 102. His lecture presentations are reasonably clear and thorough, although they are heavily theoretical/proof based, which means that you'll probably need pointers from the TAs or other students when doing the homework or studying for exams. Take Kao if you can; you won't regret it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A
Dec. 25, 2020

Professor Kao is very passionate about teaching. He does his best to make sure that the students understand the concepts covered in this class, which are definitely not the easiest. I took this class during COVID, and he is very understanding of the situation and adjusted the grading scale accordingly. It is also worth mentioning that my TA's were extremely helpful as well. Overall, I'd say Kao tries his best to make the concepts as clear as possible, and I would highly recommend him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Fall 2020
Grade: A-
Dec. 23, 2020

probably one of the best professors i have had in my academic career. he's really nice and answers a bunch of questions as he covers material. his class was extremely well organized; considering we were in a pandemic, he recorded literally everything he did which made it so convenient. homework takes forever and is graded really hard, but it is like 50 percent of your grade. go to office hours because he helps you solve the questions on the homework. the midterm was open note and open ccle so it was rather straightforward. it also was not proctored. the final was the same format but was substantially more difficult and lengthy. he did seem to grade a lot more lenient and he did relax the grade scale to compensate for the difficulty of the final. overall, an awesome professor. he actually listens to student feedback so if you have any issues i would address them to him. a lot of people early on in the quarter felt that the homework was too lengthy and posted about it indirectly, and the professor fixed it without the students addressing it specifically by giving out credit for certain problems without attempt. he really cares about the learning process and you can tell he's actually happy to teach and impart some knowledge to the students. awesome guy. the class is hard but prof made it bearable. highly recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: B+
June 7, 2020

He really cares about how well students understand the material but when it comes to grades, he's not helpful, his weekly hws are long but easy and doable and it can really help your grade, for me the midterm was extremely hard which I failed it, but he announced in the class that back then when he took this class he failed his midterm and his professor gave him a second chance by replacing the final's grade for midterm and that's what he did for me, even though I aced the final and it got replaced with my midterm, my grade was so close to next letter grade but he didn't curve the class at all, so my advice just do the hws and try your best to get A on final because there is absolutely no curve and final basically determines your grade

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Fall 2019
Grade: A
March 30, 2020

Great class with an amazing professor. He really cares about student learning and is a funny and engaging lecturer. After the midterm, he announced that he would add another grading scheme allowing you to replace your midterm grade with your final grade if you performed better. Also, Kao frequently answered Piazza questions, which I really appreciated.

The homework was a bit challenging, so start early enough that you have time to ask questions.

Very fair instructor, highly recommend.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 3
4.9
Overall Rating
Based on 27 Users
Easiness 2.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 4.7 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 2.4 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 4.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (18)
  • Tough Tests
    (15)
  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (11)
  • Engaging Lectures
    (16)
  • Appropriately Priced Materials
    (7)
  • Gives Extra Credit
    (14)
  • Would Take Again
    (18)
  • Snazzy Dresser
    (10)
  • Often Funny
    (9)
  • Issues PTEs
    (5)
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