The lectures are dry (as almost all math lectures are to me), and the professor is very heavy on the theories. He spends most of the time explaining how formulas are derived, which is interesting but doesn't help much with the homework. Just going to the lectures definitely isn't going to get you a good grade. Some things that helped me:
1) Going to discussion sections: the weekly quizzes were ridiculously easy, but they kept me studying. My TA, Kwon, was really helpful--during the review sessions, he would go over especially difficult problems that are similar to the ones on the exams.
2) Test bank: Aschenbrenner gives out the solutions right after you turn in each exam, and you can easily find previous exams (which gave you an idea of what to expect) at the test bank.
3) Practice problems from the textbook: solutions to the textbook are available online, use them to check your homework. If you don't know what you did wrong and why, you will just repeat your mistakes on the exams.

Overall, this class wasn't as difficult as I expected (while I definitely did put in extra work). It does help to have a solid foundation, like being familiar with all the basic calculus properties. For reference, I took Calc AB in high school and got a 5 on the AP exam. The quarter system schedule is still rushed, but some topics from Calc BC (vectors) aren't even covered in this class, so don't stress out too much--the class is definitely doable.

I went to his office hours and he told me to look in a different part of the book to figure it out. While this does push me as a student, I already wasnt a fan of his ridiculously boring lectures with rough handwriting and an accent that is kinda difficult to understand. Luckily my TA was great (get Keneda if you can) and was quick to help with any questions. Aschenbrenner also teaches DIRECTLY out of the book (even the examples he uses), which makes it okay to miss lecture. I actually learned more from the book then I did from the professor. Basically he sucks so unless there is a worse professor for the course, avoid him.

Selling my textbook Rogawski second edition with binder included. No notes or highlights, and in mint condition. Text me at (818) 585-4397 I can meet on or around campus. Selling for$50 with price negotiable.

Aschenbrenner is a good guy and teaches a manageable class. The course breakdown is as follows:

5% HW (due at the beginning of friday lecture, he turned away people who came in like 10 min late)
5% Quizzes (1 question from the previous weeks HW done at the end of section)
25% Midterm 1 (7 questions)
25% Midterm 2 (7 questions)
40% Final (12 questions)

Some questions on his tests were a little tricky, but the problems were never that long or too difficult. I skipped a lot of lecture, as they are not really necessary for learning as long as you do the homework.

I found a youtube page that has almost all of the sections covered in an expedited lecture (from the same textbook, Rogawski) here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR2zKMZcd9BRcZvUAM0Zf0g/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0

Here is a link to the course web page with all the info about the class, including the syllabus:
https://www.math.ucla.edu/~matthias/31b.2.16s/index.html

Good luck on this class! It's not easy but very much doable.

Aschenbrenner is not the greatest lecturer. In class, he focuses too much on proving and deriving formulas and concepts, and doesn't do examples that help learn. When he does do examples, they are often too easy and don't show harder concepts.

I got a A focusing solely on my TA and self-studying, by reading the textbook and watching online videos about concepts. If you do that, you will be solid. If you simply attend class and study class notes, you don't do well.

His exams are relatively straight forward, but he does throw some curveballs that end up being like worth like 20% of the exam. Know the material well. The final was difficult. It wasn't straightforward and was complex. The mean was a 57%.

Overall, I would take this guy for 31B again. His exams are not that bad, and if you study properly, such as watching videos online, you will do great. His problems are of the same difficulty you see in videos. The final was much more difficult, but it is curved, so getting an A is not hard.

Aschenbrenner was a horrible professor overall, but the material was easy because I didn't go to class (i.e. he teaches verbatim from the book, word for word).

If you want to pass the class, you can go to lecture, but if you want to get an A like I did, then rely solely on your TA and online lectures (I pretty much watched all of PatrickJMT's videos on Youtube, the examples he gives are very similar to the exams) If you can get Joe Hughes as your TA and ask him any questions you have, you will get an A in this class.

I think for me, the exams reflected the way I took the class. By only going to class I did not-so-great on the first midterm (67%, mean 66%, rank 66/204), but I did what I did above and did VERY well (91%, mean 58%, rank 9/192), and well enough on the final to get an A- (90%, mean 78%, rank 50/174),.

He is clearly passionate about math, and he shares fun historical facts about the things covered in lecture. He follows the structure of the book, so if you miss lecture you can look over the book. He is very organized, and he outlines the course lecture by lecture in a handout he gives out on the first week.

Good parts
- Tries to answer questions in lecture
- loves the subject
- Covers tricks that will help in homework/tests
- Hands out answer key right after a midterm/final

Cons
- Is not very good at understanding how someone could not understand the material
- Spends a lot of time on beginning(easy stuff) but sort of rushes near the end(the hard stuff)
- Accent may be hard to understand
- Uses random ass french/latin words while doing proofs

Advice
- Try to understand the material so you can explain it well to a classmate/study-partner
- Go to Li's discussions; he is the best TA!!
- Do homework for a section of a chapter the day that section is covered in lecture
- Get practice tests! The questions somewhat repeat

He can explain concepts and questions really well. Though his accent is a little bit difficult for me to understand, he writes down all necessary steps on the board so I can follow him pretty well. If you need a very logical teacher, take his class!

His grading is very fair. I thought I would end up with an A, but actually I got an A+ :)

Aschenbrenner is a fair grader on the curve. I got above the median on both midterms and the final and got a B+ in the class (even though my scores were 86, 75, 53, respectively). The midterms were what you'd expect, but the final was crazy-hard. The kind of final that students walk out of after 40 minutes becasue they can't answer any of the questions. The median on our final was a 44, so the curve figured in heavily.
Another thing I liked about him were that the HW problems were a good mix of easy and hard, so the harder questions on the exams didn't come as a big shock.

What I didn't like about him:
-His explanations in lecture are so-so, but the worst aspect was that when a student asked a question, he'd just repeat what he'd just said in lecture instead of actually explaining what he'd just said in lecture.
-He will not take questions via e-mail.
-He doesn't go into much explanation in office hours.

So, you'll be OK in this class because, fortunately, the textbook is very thorough in it's explanations and you can pepper your TA with questions instead of the professor. What Aschenbrenner does do, which is what you need the most, is give a good curve in the grading of this class.

Just know your stuff, lean on the book and your TA and you'll be OK.

I had him for both 31A and 31B. It's pointless to complain that he just reads off the book, cuz he explain the stuff so well along the way so you don't need to read the textbook on your own. Lots of sample problems in the lectures are highly related to the tests but are not in the textbook. Other than that, he's a funny & approachable person, giving out around 30% A's (Brown gives out 13%, Radko 23%, Biskup's is unknown but good luck with him). Get a great TA is also important (Matthew for 31A, Jaclyn for 31B). Got 2 A's with almost minimal work, so I would highly recommend him.