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Monica Visan
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As the person above mentioned, Visan is a really great lecturer. She's extremely clear and thorough during lectures, and goes at a comfortable pace (for the most part of the quarter). Her homework assignments are very challenging, but it really does help you understand the concepts. Plus, if you're stuck, she'll practically go through the solution with you in office hours.
This class is supposed to be one of the most challenging undergrad classes in the math department, so most of the difficulty in the class should be expected. That being said, I thought her midterms were pretty reasonable and straightforward; all the points I lost were due to dumb mistakes. However, her final was more difficult (for me at least), although she did warn us about it.
All in all, Visan's great, but expect to put in a lot of work into this class.
Visan is the goat. She's super clear, and if you don't understand something on the homework she'll go through the solution with you during office hours. During online class, even though the math department has a 24 hour testing policy, her tests are 48 hours. The class is difficult, but it's an honors version of probably the most difficult undergraduate math subject, so that's to be expected. If you like math, take this class.
Visan is a fantastic professor! I took Math 131AH and BH with her and she is my favorite professor at UCLA. THE BEST, period. Her teaching is so clear, and she writes everything on the board, so even if you don't understand it right away in class (analysis is hard, and honors class is no joke), you can totally go back and review your notes and you will be able to understand it (of course you should be willing to put in effort to this class). She has beautiful handwriting by the way.
Visan has a fantastic memory -- she lectures without notes, and never makes a mistake -- and she takes the effort to memorize every student's name (she will know how everybody is doing, so don't shirk and expect an easy A). She is extremely kind, patient, and encouraging during the office hours. Her homework is not easy but is carefully chosen to help us really master the material. They are relevant to what is taught in class and is very good for preparing the exam.
Her exam is fair and reflects the material taught in class and the homework. Going over the exercises in Rudin really helps. Often there will be a problem from the homework and a problem from Rudin on the exams (they are the giveaway points). The best thing I like about Visan is that her wording is very clear, never ambiguous. Unlike other professors, you will never be confused about theorems or problems due to ambiguous or careless wording. This makes studying so much smoother. She is quite generous about letter grades. If I am not mistaken, the median grade is about A-/B+ (of course as an honors class, many people drop the class midway because the material is hard and whoever persists are generally capable of mastering the material).
Just as a final word, the above is for pure/applied math majors intending for graduate studies. Professor Visan really prepares you for the basic exam. Take her class, and she will train you to be a mathematical analyst. If you are not a math major or not interested in "pure" math, Visan's class might be a little bit hard for you. (I audited her Math 33A class, and although I loved it very much (she just NEVER makes a mistake, which is unbelievable), I could expect freshmen complaining that it was very hard because Visan did a lot of proofs (the same proof I see again in my 115A class), but she does help lay a very very good foundation for math majors. Put in efforts, and I promise it will be rewarding.
After taking Math 131ABH with professor Visan, I can confidently say that she's (one of) the best math professor I've ever had; her lectures are extremely clear, and homework assignments are helpful for us to truly understand our content. Also, she's always willing to help us when we get stuck on our homework problems.
However, be careful about her finals; the 131AH final she gave was more difficult comparing to homeworks and midterms that quarter, and the 131BH final was terribly difficult. But this still doesn't affect the fact that she's an excellent professor.
SHE IS THE G.O.A.T. I have never made an account to write a bruinwalk review but this professor is so good that I just have to do it. She is the best math professor I ever had at UCLA (compared to her husband, Killip lmao). In lecture, she might seem really strict but personally, I like this about her because that's how you know that she means business in teaching. During her office hours, on the other hand, she is a completely different person. She is so nice and patient with answering your questions so I recommend going there if you need help. She is extremely clear and brutally efficient at getting you know exactly what you need to know for the midterm and final. She doesn't teach you nonsense that you'll never see again in the tests. The midterms were very easy conceptually and were purely computational. The hard part about the midterms are that they are EXTREMELY computationally heavy within a small 50 minute time frame and so it's easy to make arithmetic mistakes and get the question wrong. The killer for these tests are solely arithmetic mistakes. The final is also easy conceptually but also has intense computations. For the final, it was almost exactly like her practice final and she spent the whole last lecture going over how to do questions that did show up on the test. It is no exaggeration that she does everything possible to have you do well. The only really major concern you'll have with this class is that she prepares ALL of you really well for her tests. That means you'll probably have a decently challenging time trying to be within the top 25-30% of students to get an A as the math department have quota's for people getting grades and you're competing with other students who also know the material really well. Despite that, I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND her class. 10/10 would take again. Visan's the homie <3
Professor Visan is definitely the best math professor that I have had at UCLA. While her notes may seem a bit confusing during class (they're mostly definitions and proofs), if you read through your notes again, it's much clearer. The concepts of Math 33A are not difficult, but it's definitely necessary to understand them to do well. Exams are computational (except there was a few true or false questions on the final-which is another reason to definitely know and truly understand theorems). Although they are generally computations done before in class or on the homework, sometimes there are a few minor curveballs thrown in to make sure you know the theory and thus can figure out how to do the computations. Honestly, the hardest part about the class is doing better than everyone else on the exams-since it's fairly doable, a lot of the class gets an A, so make sure to still take the class seriously if you want to get an A. The exams all had averages around 70-75% and ~25% of the class would still get an A. The grading scheme is 10% homework, 20% per midterm, and 50% final. I definitely recommend taking Professor Visan (but just know her class fills up really quickly! It was full by around 2 PM on the day of freshman first pass and she does not give PTE numbers since the class was so full that people were sitting on the steps of the lecture hall).
Honestly Visan isn't as great as everyone makes her out to be. She can be rude in lecture and overcomplicates the topics that she teaches. She'll ask the class what the answer for a certain example problem is and when someone doesn't answer immediately she gets really mad. Some people find this entertaining but I did not. In lecture she just writes proofs on the board the whole time and rarely does examples. Your hand will cramp from so much writing. Her midterms are reasonable and you can do well on them if you study. Homework isn't too bad. The final was pretty difficult mostly because it had a lot of nasty fractions and square roots in the calculations. Overall, not a super hard class but Visan could do a better job of explaining things more patiently and clearly.
Visan is an effective professor for Math 33A - she generally has a good mix of theory/examples in class and is able to explain concepts well. However, the averages on the midterms/finals were pretty high (in the 70s and 80s), so there wasn't a strong curve in this class. The midterms were only 4 problems each, so missing just one problem hurts your grade a lot. Overall, Visan is a good choice for 33A, but know that you will definitely have to put in the effort in order to get a good grade in this class.
Professor Visan tells you at the beginning of the year that her tests are just as difficult as her homeworks. Take this advice strongly and do your homeworks and you will do well in the class. I redid homework problems (including textbook problems) before each midterm and the final and got an A. Simple class.
As the person above mentioned, Visan is a really great lecturer. She's extremely clear and thorough during lectures, and goes at a comfortable pace (for the most part of the quarter). Her homework assignments are very challenging, but it really does help you understand the concepts. Plus, if you're stuck, she'll practically go through the solution with you in office hours.
This class is supposed to be one of the most challenging undergrad classes in the math department, so most of the difficulty in the class should be expected. That being said, I thought her midterms were pretty reasonable and straightforward; all the points I lost were due to dumb mistakes. However, her final was more difficult (for me at least), although she did warn us about it.
All in all, Visan's great, but expect to put in a lot of work into this class.
Visan is the goat. She's super clear, and if you don't understand something on the homework she'll go through the solution with you during office hours. During online class, even though the math department has a 24 hour testing policy, her tests are 48 hours. The class is difficult, but it's an honors version of probably the most difficult undergraduate math subject, so that's to be expected. If you like math, take this class.
Visan is a fantastic professor! I took Math 131AH and BH with her and she is my favorite professor at UCLA. THE BEST, period. Her teaching is so clear, and she writes everything on the board, so even if you don't understand it right away in class (analysis is hard, and honors class is no joke), you can totally go back and review your notes and you will be able to understand it (of course you should be willing to put in effort to this class). She has beautiful handwriting by the way.
Visan has a fantastic memory -- she lectures without notes, and never makes a mistake -- and she takes the effort to memorize every student's name (she will know how everybody is doing, so don't shirk and expect an easy A). She is extremely kind, patient, and encouraging during the office hours. Her homework is not easy but is carefully chosen to help us really master the material. They are relevant to what is taught in class and is very good for preparing the exam.
Her exam is fair and reflects the material taught in class and the homework. Going over the exercises in Rudin really helps. Often there will be a problem from the homework and a problem from Rudin on the exams (they are the giveaway points). The best thing I like about Visan is that her wording is very clear, never ambiguous. Unlike other professors, you will never be confused about theorems or problems due to ambiguous or careless wording. This makes studying so much smoother. She is quite generous about letter grades. If I am not mistaken, the median grade is about A-/B+ (of course as an honors class, many people drop the class midway because the material is hard and whoever persists are generally capable of mastering the material).
Just as a final word, the above is for pure/applied math majors intending for graduate studies. Professor Visan really prepares you for the basic exam. Take her class, and she will train you to be a mathematical analyst. If you are not a math major or not interested in "pure" math, Visan's class might be a little bit hard for you. (I audited her Math 33A class, and although I loved it very much (she just NEVER makes a mistake, which is unbelievable), I could expect freshmen complaining that it was very hard because Visan did a lot of proofs (the same proof I see again in my 115A class), but she does help lay a very very good foundation for math majors. Put in efforts, and I promise it will be rewarding.
After taking Math 131ABH with professor Visan, I can confidently say that she's (one of) the best math professor I've ever had; her lectures are extremely clear, and homework assignments are helpful for us to truly understand our content. Also, she's always willing to help us when we get stuck on our homework problems.
However, be careful about her finals; the 131AH final she gave was more difficult comparing to homeworks and midterms that quarter, and the 131BH final was terribly difficult. But this still doesn't affect the fact that she's an excellent professor.
SHE IS THE G.O.A.T. I have never made an account to write a bruinwalk review but this professor is so good that I just have to do it. She is the best math professor I ever had at UCLA (compared to her husband, Killip lmao). In lecture, she might seem really strict but personally, I like this about her because that's how you know that she means business in teaching. During her office hours, on the other hand, she is a completely different person. She is so nice and patient with answering your questions so I recommend going there if you need help. She is extremely clear and brutally efficient at getting you know exactly what you need to know for the midterm and final. She doesn't teach you nonsense that you'll never see again in the tests. The midterms were very easy conceptually and were purely computational. The hard part about the midterms are that they are EXTREMELY computationally heavy within a small 50 minute time frame and so it's easy to make arithmetic mistakes and get the question wrong. The killer for these tests are solely arithmetic mistakes. The final is also easy conceptually but also has intense computations. For the final, it was almost exactly like her practice final and she spent the whole last lecture going over how to do questions that did show up on the test. It is no exaggeration that she does everything possible to have you do well. The only really major concern you'll have with this class is that she prepares ALL of you really well for her tests. That means you'll probably have a decently challenging time trying to be within the top 25-30% of students to get an A as the math department have quota's for people getting grades and you're competing with other students who also know the material really well. Despite that, I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND her class. 10/10 would take again. Visan's the homie <3
Professor Visan is definitely the best math professor that I have had at UCLA. While her notes may seem a bit confusing during class (they're mostly definitions and proofs), if you read through your notes again, it's much clearer. The concepts of Math 33A are not difficult, but it's definitely necessary to understand them to do well. Exams are computational (except there was a few true or false questions on the final-which is another reason to definitely know and truly understand theorems). Although they are generally computations done before in class or on the homework, sometimes there are a few minor curveballs thrown in to make sure you know the theory and thus can figure out how to do the computations. Honestly, the hardest part about the class is doing better than everyone else on the exams-since it's fairly doable, a lot of the class gets an A, so make sure to still take the class seriously if you want to get an A. The exams all had averages around 70-75% and ~25% of the class would still get an A. The grading scheme is 10% homework, 20% per midterm, and 50% final. I definitely recommend taking Professor Visan (but just know her class fills up really quickly! It was full by around 2 PM on the day of freshman first pass and she does not give PTE numbers since the class was so full that people were sitting on the steps of the lecture hall).
Honestly Visan isn't as great as everyone makes her out to be. She can be rude in lecture and overcomplicates the topics that she teaches. She'll ask the class what the answer for a certain example problem is and when someone doesn't answer immediately she gets really mad. Some people find this entertaining but I did not. In lecture she just writes proofs on the board the whole time and rarely does examples. Your hand will cramp from so much writing. Her midterms are reasonable and you can do well on them if you study. Homework isn't too bad. The final was pretty difficult mostly because it had a lot of nasty fractions and square roots in the calculations. Overall, not a super hard class but Visan could do a better job of explaining things more patiently and clearly.
Visan is an effective professor for Math 33A - she generally has a good mix of theory/examples in class and is able to explain concepts well. However, the averages on the midterms/finals were pretty high (in the 70s and 80s), so there wasn't a strong curve in this class. The midterms were only 4 problems each, so missing just one problem hurts your grade a lot. Overall, Visan is a good choice for 33A, but know that you will definitely have to put in the effort in order to get a good grade in this class.
Professor Visan tells you at the beginning of the year that her tests are just as difficult as her homeworks. Take this advice strongly and do your homeworks and you will do well in the class. I redid homework problems (including textbook problems) before each midterm and the final and got an A. Simple class.