Professor

Michael Hill

AD
4.9
Overall Ratings
Based on 24 Users
Easiness 3.9 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 4.2 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 4.8 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 4.9 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (24)

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March 19, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

Hill was a fantastic professor for Math 32A. Being my first math class at UCLA, I think I took for granted how much he cares about the success of students, their understanding, and their enjoyment. Hill hasn't typically always taught lower div math classes, so if you get the opportunity to take anything in the 31-33 series with him, I would highly highly recommend it.

Here's some things to know/consider:
-(As of 2019) Hill is a faculty in residence. This is super cool because his office hours are hosted on the hill in a large spacious room. Always places to sit and get help. His LA's often will come to and walk around to help with homework/questions. Go to them!!

-Rather than collect homework, Hill has weekly quizzes in discussion which are mandatory, but they are basically identical to homework problems, and you can drop your lowest quizzes. The homework assigned itself is a very reasonable amount, maybe took me about 2hr a week to complete.

-In his class, especially for the 2nd midterm/final, it is critical you understand the conceptual stuff, not just the math. Really understand gradients, partials, directional derivatives, curvature, etc. Final was very reasonable; new problems but nothing foreign or impossible. Watch out for 2nd midterm, I ended up dropping mine.

-Since the exams are all pretty reasonable, the curve is very high - if present at all, so don't rely on it.

-While Hill is a good lecturer, he sometimes can shy away from applications/physics of 32A, which can make concepts harder to understand since without it, it's pretty abstract. Don't be afraid to look stuff up on your own.

-When I took him, there was nothing for his exams in the test bank. That may have changed since, but it did make preparation a little harder, since all we had were practice exams he wrote.

Helpful?

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March 30, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

Hill was a wonderful, passionate lecturer who was clearly very knowledgeable about the material. He gives quizzes during discussion, but they weren't bad. Exams are not easy, but they are doable. He's also very accessible outside of class, in case you have any questions about the material.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 2, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B

Probably the best math professor I've ever had. He was one of the clearest and concisest math professors at UCLA. His office hours were helpful as well. However, one strange thing is that he doesn't assign homework, but rather gives quizzes during discussion, so they are mandatory. I would recommend taking him if you really want to learn the material well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 2, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A-

One of the easiest 32A professors from what I understand, despite a surprisingly hard final. Very organized, clear lectures. HW is not collected, but do them thoroughly because the section quiz questions are taken directly from the assignments. Overall great professor.

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April 3, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: C

Hill was a super engaging and funny lecturer. He is very clear, and he had his office hours on the Hill because he is a Faculty-In-Residence. I blame myself for doing so badly since I couldn't dedicate enough time to the class, but if I had been able to I believe I could have done better, despite not being amazing at math.

His discussion worksheets are pretty difficult but are useful for preparing for the tests. I would also recommend doing many practice problems from the textbook (all the homework assignments, even if they aren't collected).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 4, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+

Professor Hill is good at explaining the material, although I do think 32A material is pretty easy regardless. He's a fair professor. I don't believe he curves (simply based on the midterm/final averages), but he doesn't need to. The midterms are fairly easy, and if you can do the practice final, you'll be fine for the final. I recommend this class if you're willing to go to lecture, pay attention, and do the practice tests that he provides. Also, the discussion worksheets are way harder than the final, so if you have no problem doing the discussion worksheets, the final will be a breeze.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
April 25, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

-Ok I definitely took this man for granted when I had him as a professor. I had him during my first quarter at UCLA, so I didn't really have any other professors to compare him to and didn't realize how amazing of a professor he is. Take a class with this man if you can! A professor as good as he is in the math department is extremely rare.
-The first midterm was very easy. It was out of 75 and the only objectively "difficult" problem was a 5 point problem which no one really knew how to do.
-The second midterm for me was a different story, but many other people did well even though I did not. I admittedly didn't study that much and got a C, so I consider it my fault.
-After my performance on the second midterm, I grinded really hard for the final and got a 97%. Many people thought the final was very difficult; it definitely wasn't a walk in the park. It was 15 questions. Many of the questions were difficult when I first read them, but after staring at them for a while or working through them, I found my way. Overall in the class, I got an A because you can drop your worse midterm.
-The homework in this class is technically optional but DO IT because there are short quizzes each week during discussion sections, and 99% of the time, the questions are verbatim from the homework.
-A lot of the material in the class centers on topography and the structure of graphs of multivariable functions, and Mike Hill actually specializes in topography, so he knows his stuff and knows how to teach it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
June 10, 2019
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: N/A

Hill is a great professor. 50min/week is not enough time to really explore any topic but Prof. Hill did a good job of introducing us to several different interesting ideas in an engaging way.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Dec. 23, 2019
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A

No words can describe how grateful I am to have Dr. Hill as my first math professor! His finals are very very fair! As always attend office hours.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
June 15, 2020
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: N/A

Prof. Hill is awesome! He's super understanding and always puts our understanding first, even when he might run a little late to his original plan - he will ALWAYS address any questions before moving on during lecture.
Material for the class is also easy. Super fun and straightforward midterms and very generous weight given to quizzes that you can easily prepare for if you do the hw assigned beforehand. I appreciate that because midterms/finals may have some circumstances / time pressure that you can't handle and they shouldn't completely drop your grade down. So short but many quizzes (two of the lowest of which you can drop!) are so much better because you can always do better the week after.
He's super straightforward, makes clean understandable notes during class and his graphs are really helpful in pulling the understanding together. I love how easy he made things sound :) Take him if you can, super sweet and super great to keep up with his lectures!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
March 19, 2019

Hill was a fantastic professor for Math 32A. Being my first math class at UCLA, I think I took for granted how much he cares about the success of students, their understanding, and their enjoyment. Hill hasn't typically always taught lower div math classes, so if you get the opportunity to take anything in the 31-33 series with him, I would highly highly recommend it.

Here's some things to know/consider:
-(As of 2019) Hill is a faculty in residence. This is super cool because his office hours are hosted on the hill in a large spacious room. Always places to sit and get help. His LA's often will come to and walk around to help with homework/questions. Go to them!!

-Rather than collect homework, Hill has weekly quizzes in discussion which are mandatory, but they are basically identical to homework problems, and you can drop your lowest quizzes. The homework assigned itself is a very reasonable amount, maybe took me about 2hr a week to complete.

-In his class, especially for the 2nd midterm/final, it is critical you understand the conceptual stuff, not just the math. Really understand gradients, partials, directional derivatives, curvature, etc. Final was very reasonable; new problems but nothing foreign or impossible. Watch out for 2nd midterm, I ended up dropping mine.

-Since the exams are all pretty reasonable, the curve is very high - if present at all, so don't rely on it.

-While Hill is a good lecturer, he sometimes can shy away from applications/physics of 32A, which can make concepts harder to understand since without it, it's pretty abstract. Don't be afraid to look stuff up on your own.

-When I took him, there was nothing for his exams in the test bank. That may have changed since, but it did make preparation a little harder, since all we had were practice exams he wrote.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
March 30, 2019

Hill was a wonderful, passionate lecturer who was clearly very knowledgeable about the material. He gives quizzes during discussion, but they weren't bad. Exams are not easy, but they are doable. He's also very accessible outside of class, in case you have any questions about the material.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: B
April 2, 2019

Probably the best math professor I've ever had. He was one of the clearest and concisest math professors at UCLA. His office hours were helpful as well. However, one strange thing is that he doesn't assign homework, but rather gives quizzes during discussion, so they are mandatory. I would recommend taking him if you really want to learn the material well.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A-
April 2, 2019

One of the easiest 32A professors from what I understand, despite a surprisingly hard final. Very organized, clear lectures. HW is not collected, but do them thoroughly because the section quiz questions are taken directly from the assignments. Overall great professor.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: C
April 3, 2019

Hill was a super engaging and funny lecturer. He is very clear, and he had his office hours on the Hill because he is a Faculty-In-Residence. I blame myself for doing so badly since I couldn't dedicate enough time to the class, but if I had been able to I believe I could have done better, despite not being amazing at math.

His discussion worksheets are pretty difficult but are useful for preparing for the tests. I would also recommend doing many practice problems from the textbook (all the homework assignments, even if they aren't collected).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A+
April 4, 2019

Professor Hill is good at explaining the material, although I do think 32A material is pretty easy regardless. He's a fair professor. I don't believe he curves (simply based on the midterm/final averages), but he doesn't need to. The midterms are fairly easy, and if you can do the practice final, you'll be fine for the final. I recommend this class if you're willing to go to lecture, pay attention, and do the practice tests that he provides. Also, the discussion worksheets are way harder than the final, so if you have no problem doing the discussion worksheets, the final will be a breeze.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
April 25, 2019

-Ok I definitely took this man for granted when I had him as a professor. I had him during my first quarter at UCLA, so I didn't really have any other professors to compare him to and didn't realize how amazing of a professor he is. Take a class with this man if you can! A professor as good as he is in the math department is extremely rare.
-The first midterm was very easy. It was out of 75 and the only objectively "difficult" problem was a 5 point problem which no one really knew how to do.
-The second midterm for me was a different story, but many other people did well even though I did not. I admittedly didn't study that much and got a C, so I consider it my fault.
-After my performance on the second midterm, I grinded really hard for the final and got a 97%. Many people thought the final was very difficult; it definitely wasn't a walk in the park. It was 15 questions. Many of the questions were difficult when I first read them, but after staring at them for a while or working through them, I found my way. Overall in the class, I got an A because you can drop your worse midterm.
-The homework in this class is technically optional but DO IT because there are short quizzes each week during discussion sections, and 99% of the time, the questions are verbatim from the homework.
-A lot of the material in the class centers on topography and the structure of graphs of multivariable functions, and Mike Hill actually specializes in topography, so he knows his stuff and knows how to teach it.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 19
Quarter: Spring 2019
Grade: N/A
June 10, 2019

Hill is a great professor. 50min/week is not enough time to really explore any topic but Prof. Hill did a good job of introducing us to several different interesting ideas in an engaging way.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
Quarter: Fall 2018
Grade: A
Dec. 23, 2019

No words can describe how grateful I am to have Dr. Hill as my first math professor! His finals are very very fair! As always attend office hours.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
MATH 32A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Spring 2020
Grade: N/A
June 15, 2020

Prof. Hill is awesome! He's super understanding and always puts our understanding first, even when he might run a little late to his original plan - he will ALWAYS address any questions before moving on during lecture.
Material for the class is also easy. Super fun and straightforward midterms and very generous weight given to quizzes that you can easily prepare for if you do the hw assigned beforehand. I appreciate that because midterms/finals may have some circumstances / time pressure that you can't handle and they shouldn't completely drop your grade down. So short but many quizzes (two of the lowest of which you can drop!) are so much better because you can always do better the week after.
He's super straightforward, makes clean understandable notes during class and his graphs are really helpful in pulling the understanding together. I love how easy he made things sound :) Take him if you can, super sweet and super great to keep up with his lectures!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
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