Professor
Lei He
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Since COM SCI M51A has no tests, the class itself has no tests (no final either) and only requires you to do two projects and homework sets. Initially, we were told that there would be eight problem sets, but for some reason the professor changed that midway through to six problem sets and also made the projects required for passing (they originally were not). Miscommunication is a recurring theme in the course. A more serious issue was when the professor confirmed that the class would be curved, but not downcurved (he promised our grade would not go down from the curve), yet at the end, gave all students a significant downcurve. The difference between an A (98.4%) and a B+ (97.8%) was only 0.6% in the end and filling out an optional extra credit course evaluation (worth 1.125%) could literally mean the difference between a B+ and an A. Homework assignments were also initially due on Friday morning, then were clarified to be due Tuesday at midnight, then ended up being due Sunday at 11:59 PM for some reason. The problem sets in the class essentially consist of challenge problems and it can take hours sometimes just to figure out how you would even approach a problem. TAs were very helpful in this regard as they would respond in minutes and they would give a lot of helpful hints during office hours There are anywhere from four to six problems in the problem sets and usually ask you to design some sort of circuit (e.g. make a full adder with logic gates, make a multiplexer with logic gates, etc.) by hand. Professor He's lectures were not helpful or very clear in this regard (they are essentially an overview of the textbook), but his slides (which were from Stanford, MIT, or even the textbook manufacturer) would help you out with solving the odd problem on the problem set. Overall, Neso Academy on YouTube was significantly more useful in getting an understanding of the material than Professor He. The projects were relatively straightforward and the TAs did a fantastic job of leading us through it. It is self-learning for Verilog for the most part although with the TAs help it wasn't too bad. The amount of time given is (around four weeks for the first project, and three for the second) is significantly more than you need to finish them. TL;DR - Poor communication throughout the course, Professor He's lectures were not clear/helpful, TAs were fantastic, no tests so only problem sets/projects for your grade, HEAVY downcurve, problem sets were hard
Winter 2021 - Since COM SCI M51A has no tests, the class itself has no tests (no final either) and only requires you to do two projects and homework sets. Initially, we were told that there would be eight problem sets, but for some reason the professor changed that midway through to six problem sets and also made the projects required for passing (they originally were not). Miscommunication is a recurring theme in the course. A more serious issue was when the professor confirmed that the class would be curved, but not downcurved (he promised our grade would not go down from the curve), yet at the end, gave all students a significant downcurve. The difference between an A (98.4%) and a B+ (97.8%) was only 0.6% in the end and filling out an optional extra credit course evaluation (worth 1.125%) could literally mean the difference between a B+ and an A. Homework assignments were also initially due on Friday morning, then were clarified to be due Tuesday at midnight, then ended up being due Sunday at 11:59 PM for some reason. The problem sets in the class essentially consist of challenge problems and it can take hours sometimes just to figure out how you would even approach a problem. TAs were very helpful in this regard as they would respond in minutes and they would give a lot of helpful hints during office hours There are anywhere from four to six problems in the problem sets and usually ask you to design some sort of circuit (e.g. make a full adder with logic gates, make a multiplexer with logic gates, etc.) by hand. Professor He's lectures were not helpful or very clear in this regard (they are essentially an overview of the textbook), but his slides (which were from Stanford, MIT, or even the textbook manufacturer) would help you out with solving the odd problem on the problem set. Overall, Neso Academy on YouTube was significantly more useful in getting an understanding of the material than Professor He. The projects were relatively straightforward and the TAs did a fantastic job of leading us through it. It is self-learning for Verilog for the most part although with the TAs help it wasn't too bad. The amount of time given is (around four weeks for the first project, and three for the second) is significantly more than you need to finish them. TL;DR - Poor communication throughout the course, Professor He's lectures were not clear/helpful, TAs were fantastic, no tests so only problem sets/projects for your grade, HEAVY downcurve, problem sets were hard
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Most Helpful Review
Not good at teaching the material. Luckily, during my quarter, we had good TAs. Make sure to go the discussion sections because they really helped. Fair grader and tests aren't too difficult. Got an A- in the class, but it was because I read the textbook and went to discussion sections.
Not good at teaching the material. Luckily, during my quarter, we had good TAs. Make sure to go the discussion sections because they really helped. Fair grader and tests aren't too difficult. Got an A- in the class, but it was because I read the textbook and went to discussion sections.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - I know Lei He doesn't get a good rep on BruinWalk, but I have to back up my boy here. Although I was a computer science major (graduated last year), Lei He's classes were two of my favorites at UCLA (M16 + M116C). He explains things in a shockingly great way, you just have to get past the accent (which most UCLA professor have, anyways he's trying his best). Honestly he does an amazing job and as someone who went through the gauntlet of the 'toughest' classes at UCLA I can tell you this is nothing to worry about.
Winter 2019 - I know Lei He doesn't get a good rep on BruinWalk, but I have to back up my boy here. Although I was a computer science major (graduated last year), Lei He's classes were two of my favorites at UCLA (M16 + M116C). He explains things in a shockingly great way, you just have to get past the accent (which most UCLA professor have, anyways he's trying his best). Honestly he does an amazing job and as someone who went through the gauntlet of the 'toughest' classes at UCLA I can tell you this is nothing to worry about.
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