Professor Forlano made me feel a lot better about my math skills after fall quarter. He explained things pretty clearly and really really aligned with what the textbook was teaching, so anything I wasn't super clear on I could look and find a similar problem in the textbook with a written out explanation. He talks pretty slow, but he has a cool British or Australian accent so it's understandable even at 1.5x speed. His midterms were the first that I felt like would've made sense to give in an in-person setting. They weren't insanely hard like the other exams that professors made for 24 hour midterms, but it still tested the material so it was great. He also provides a lot of practice problems, but we only have to turn in about five specific questions each week. The workload is really light compared to other professors. 10/10 would recommend.

Cool guy

For a new professor, Justin Forlano is a phenomenal lecturer! Even though I'd heard horror stories of the difficulties of Math 32B, imo he made the content really easy to understand and easier than 32A.

Pros

- Engaging Lecturer - he balances theory with examples, and I didn't feel too worn out after lectures. He also records and posts them on CCLE, which you can watch at 2x speed

- Clear Explanations - he's good at drawing figures and explaining the geometry behind the theorems and formulas that he goes through, making the class easier for you

- Test difficulty - the two 24-hour midterms and the three timed quizzes were all of low difficulty, and as long as you did the work and attended classes, it was easy! The final was a bit trickier and took me 5-6 hours, but still manageable

- Homework - while he gave a lot of homework problems, only 4-5 had to be submitted every week, which only took 2-3 hours. The other problems were given for practise, and some exam questions on the midterms were based on homework problems.

Cons

- Some of the topics he taught were slightly confusing, but the textbook was always there to assist! If you can't buy the textbook, just find a pdf online for reference.

Forlano was really helpful in Office Hours, and would 10/10 recommend him!

Out of all the professors in the math department I've taken classes with, I feel like professor Forlano is probably the lecturer that explains things clearly. He's really good at drawing geometric figures which really helps when trying to understand exactly what the math is trying to represent. Professor Forlano also goes through the trouble of proving essential formulas in a way that makes sense. His tests are of reasonable difficulty and the only thing you need to turn in every week is a few select problems from the homework (which you know beforehand). The workload is very light, but there's a big selection of homework questions you can work on if you feel like you need more practice. Decent class. The professor does talk a bit slow but at 2x speed it's pretty perfect so take advantage of these recorded lectures while they exist.

Professor Forlano is a decent professor, if you are OK with getting a B/C.

Cons:
The curve. For my class, the avg for 2 midterms and final are 59%, 49%, 64%, and HE DOES NOT CURVE DOWN for A/A-. YOU NEED 90% TO GET AN A-! (Just to reference, 2 out of 33 people got 90%+ in final, and no one got 90% for midterm 2.)
His handwriting in the lecture notes is kind of hard to understand.

Pros:
Very tiny workload comparing to other professor for 131A. The homework is about 10 problems but you only need to submit the ones he require, which is about 3 problems.
His lectures are clear. He is very helpful.
He allows cheatsheet for final which is very useful.
He gives an extra homework for 7% extra credit, but the problems are hard so it is hard to get all of the 7%.(Most students got 2-5%)

He's aight

I really loved his lectures, he explained everything very clearly (his accent will honestly help you pay attention, everyone loves an Australian accent), responded positively to questions, and was overall super helpful. He's teaching a class that a lot of people have a hard time with, so I can't fault him for the difficulty of the exams, but they were tough. Averages of the midterms were 48% and 58%. The average of the final was 63%. There were two grading schemes, but it's likely everyone had to use one that was 20% highest midterm, 30% homework, and 50% final. After the first midterm's low average, he said that was normal, and that luckily we have a grading scheme that drops a midterm. After the second midterm's low average, he made the final homework extra credit (up to 7% on top of the grading schemes, pretty huge boost to our grades). He also allowed us a cheat sheet for the final, which was very helpful, there are a lot of definitions you need to remember. The questions on all of the exams were honestly pretty fair, and I think the grading was generous, we were probably just all a bit rusty coming off of online unproctored 24 hour exams straight into 50 minute in person exams (for the midterms) and 3 hours for the final. The homeworks were pretty long, but you only had to do a small subset of the questions. I doubt very many people did all of the homework (we're all lazy), and I think if you actually did the whole homeworks you would get a ton more practice than your classmates and be way ahead of the curve. Some proofs from homework are also very helpful to reference during exams or future homework assignments.

Summary: In comparison to Math 131A, I took Math 115A with a different instructor last quarter and while I found MATH 115A a lot easier, I think I learned far less and much less about proof writing. Additionally, the Math 115A lectures were much less clear. So while Math 131A with Professor Forlano may be harder, it may be worth it. Overall, I think it was a great introduction to real analysis

Pros: Lectures are clear and intuitive and the professor is pretty nice about clarifying topics or offering help (Note: The professor does go fast (which I think is common in the math department) so you can get lost. I typically used to take down notes while he was talking and review them later on to make sure I understood what was said). Homework load is relatively light, especially later in the quarter. Midterm/Final average is relatively low so, if the class is graded on a curve, it’s easier to do better (i.e. small mistakes don’t have as much an impact on your final grade). There are also two grading schemes where the lowest midterm can be dropped and the homework/final scores are upweighted, but I think most students used this scheme anyway because their homework/final scores were far better. There was an extra credit hw assignment (worth 7% of the overall grade) to boost grades with three hard (but doable) problems. I also felt I learned a lot about rigorous proof writing (this is emphasized in lecture as well as homework/exam grading). Grades are on a straight scale (90 is an A-/A, 80 is a B-/B, etc.) though these can be lowered depending on class performance.

Cons: The exams are pretty challenging (mt1=59%,mt2=49%,final=64%) and doing well on them can be very dependent on your time management during the exams. For the first two midterms we didn’t have a notesheet and had to memorize everything which can be a pain (for the final, we were allowed a notesheet). The practice problems for the exam are ridiculously hard though, to a lesser degree, are reflective of exam problem difficulty. We also don't go over problem-solving strategies for exam problems which is another important aspect of doing well on timed exams. I think in past class offerings the average GPA was ~2.7 and that was probably the case this quarter. While there isn’t too much homework, the problems can be tricky and require some thought (this isn’t necessarily a con, tbh).

Dr. Forlano's lectures were a little on the dry side, but I felt like I really understood the concepts presented in this class. Every concept is explained to the fullest extent and Justin is always receptive to any questions regarding difficult topics in lecture. Examples are very helpful, and the exams greatly reflect these and the homework questions (which are not too lengthy but do a very good job at facilitating comprehension of the topics). Overall this class feels much better than Math 32A, and I would highly recommend this professor for any math class in general.

Because I had a time conflict with another class, I was never able to go to Forlano's lectures live, but I watched them in my own time and although they weren't the most interesting, Forlano was pretty good at explaining difficult concepts and giving examples accordingly. His class was very organized which I appreciated (lectures, homeworks, exams, and exam scores were all posted on time and quickly) and he is very patient in answering students' questions and making sure they understand concepts. Overall, I would take his class again!

Homeworks: 25%, 9 total, lowest 2 dropped, due every week. He would give us a set of 15-20 problems, but only about 5 were assigned and the rest were just for review. He would also post answers for these problems after the due date which was nice
Quizzes: 14.5%, 3 total, 90 minutes to complete on Gradescope. The quizzes each had three computational problems that were pretty similar to homework and weren't too challenging, but he did say that they were supposed to take about 30 minutes and I think most people used all 90 to complete it
Exams: 15% each midterm, 30% final, 24 hours to complete. The first midterm was pretty easy as it was exactly the stuff we practice in class, the second one was definitely harder but not too bad. The final was about twice as long as the midterms and felt pretty long and difficult, but still doable given the amount of time you get