Professor
Pieter Spaas
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Spaas is a great lecturer and probably the most wholesomest, nicest man ever. I think I have a relatively more unbiased view of his class lol because despite the fact that his final was pretty horrible, I'll probably go through w taking his 32B class again next quarter. Homework: Super easy, graded on accuracy so just be careful and check before you turn them in. He drops the 2 lowest HW grades too, but that wasn't an issue for most people. They were easier than midterms/finals questions too. Discussions: as others have said, completely useless. We're supposed to do worksheets during discussion, but my TA (Ben) would spend half the class going over the first 2 questions (always SUPER easy) and never talk about the last questions, which is what we actually needed help on. SPAAS does not provide solutions to his discussion worksheets, so you just have to pray your TA is nice enough to give them to you. Ben was not... but he was a very nice, wholesome dude that was always really approachable. The worksheets are also super conceptual and a bit tricky – harder than midterms. Midterms: They are pretty straightforward, but they're only out of 40 points. SMALL MISTAKES WILL KILL YOUR SCORES. He is pretty nitpicky too about some small things as well. One time I wrote down the CORRECT equation with the numbers already plugged in instead of the original equation with variables AND he took a full point off (which is like 2.5% off right there), which makes 0 sense. The averages are like low B's which is pretty standard. After my first midterm grade came out, I was only marked off for nitpicky stuff so I was kinda mad at Spaas. But tbh seeing his beautiful face and nice personality in class the next Monday kinda made me forget about that. FOR MIDTERM 2, he didn't give us study questions or anything also, which was annoying, but he did for midterm 1 and final. Final: SO HARD. He literally told us that it would 70% straightforward and 30% not straightforward the Friday before, so at least he was honest... The test was just extremely conceptual, with true/false/not enough info questions and a weird last thing where you had to calculate cross products using geometric stuff and arc length parametrizations . Although our final grades were curved, ultimately, I got a lower final grade than my 2 midterms, which was pretty upsetting because I had done much better than average on both of them. Honestly, if it wasn't for that how tRiCKy/nOt sTraightfOrWard that final was, I probably could've done much better overall. :((
Fall 2019 - Spaas is a great lecturer and probably the most wholesomest, nicest man ever. I think I have a relatively more unbiased view of his class lol because despite the fact that his final was pretty horrible, I'll probably go through w taking his 32B class again next quarter. Homework: Super easy, graded on accuracy so just be careful and check before you turn them in. He drops the 2 lowest HW grades too, but that wasn't an issue for most people. They were easier than midterms/finals questions too. Discussions: as others have said, completely useless. We're supposed to do worksheets during discussion, but my TA (Ben) would spend half the class going over the first 2 questions (always SUPER easy) and never talk about the last questions, which is what we actually needed help on. SPAAS does not provide solutions to his discussion worksheets, so you just have to pray your TA is nice enough to give them to you. Ben was not... but he was a very nice, wholesome dude that was always really approachable. The worksheets are also super conceptual and a bit tricky – harder than midterms. Midterms: They are pretty straightforward, but they're only out of 40 points. SMALL MISTAKES WILL KILL YOUR SCORES. He is pretty nitpicky too about some small things as well. One time I wrote down the CORRECT equation with the numbers already plugged in instead of the original equation with variables AND he took a full point off (which is like 2.5% off right there), which makes 0 sense. The averages are like low B's which is pretty standard. After my first midterm grade came out, I was only marked off for nitpicky stuff so I was kinda mad at Spaas. But tbh seeing his beautiful face and nice personality in class the next Monday kinda made me forget about that. FOR MIDTERM 2, he didn't give us study questions or anything also, which was annoying, but he did for midterm 1 and final. Final: SO HARD. He literally told us that it would 70% straightforward and 30% not straightforward the Friday before, so at least he was honest... The test was just extremely conceptual, with true/false/not enough info questions and a weird last thing where you had to calculate cross products using geometric stuff and arc length parametrizations . Although our final grades were curved, ultimately, I got a lower final grade than my 2 midterms, which was pretty upsetting because I had done much better than average on both of them. Honestly, if it wasn't for that how tRiCKy/nOt sTraightfOrWard that final was, I probably could've done much better overall. :((
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - You can till this professor actually cares about student learning and his lectures are definitely pretty clear. The exams weren't especially easy/hard but the grading for both midterms and homework is incredibly picky. I usually get a perfect homework score in my math classes but I've gotten points deducted left and right in this class. For any other class you'd chalk that up to a strict undergraduate grader, but the midterms were graded similarly. The rubrics are incredibly skewed, punishing you for tiny arithmetic mistakes and slight errors. Overall he's a good teacher but I would still not take him again with his strict af grading. In terms of the course difficulty itself, I'd say it's definitely a step up from 32A but still easier than 33A.
Winter 2020 - You can till this professor actually cares about student learning and his lectures are definitely pretty clear. The exams weren't especially easy/hard but the grading for both midterms and homework is incredibly picky. I usually get a perfect homework score in my math classes but I've gotten points deducted left and right in this class. For any other class you'd chalk that up to a strict undergraduate grader, but the midterms were graded similarly. The rubrics are incredibly skewed, punishing you for tiny arithmetic mistakes and slight errors. Overall he's a good teacher but I would still not take him again with his strict af grading. In terms of the course difficulty itself, I'd say it's definitely a step up from 32A but still easier than 33A.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - I really, really enjoyed this class. That being said, it is MUCH easier to enjoy this class if you don't mind your GPA taking a hit. For whatever reason, despite Pieter Spaas typically giving a very generous curve, in this class he does not. I performed in the top 30% of students and got a B. Overall, though, his material is incredibly engaging, and he is easy to understand. This is much more than can be said for most upper division math professors, and is truly a shining accolade. He is very helpful in office hours. His homeworks can sometimes be long, but are representative of test material. Tests are tough in this class, without a shadow of a doubt. The midterm average was around 50% and the final average was around 60%. The homework and test grading is incredibly nit-picky, and small mistakes will cost you significantly. Again, though, if you study your homeworks and lecture proofs, you will have all of the material you need to pass the tests (despite "all the material" being *a lot* of material). If you can take this with someone who will give you a free A, do it. Otherwise, study hard, and you will succeed in this class, and meet a really kind and caring professor with an engaging lecture along the way.
Fall 2021 - I really, really enjoyed this class. That being said, it is MUCH easier to enjoy this class if you don't mind your GPA taking a hit. For whatever reason, despite Pieter Spaas typically giving a very generous curve, in this class he does not. I performed in the top 30% of students and got a B. Overall, though, his material is incredibly engaging, and he is easy to understand. This is much more than can be said for most upper division math professors, and is truly a shining accolade. He is very helpful in office hours. His homeworks can sometimes be long, but are representative of test material. Tests are tough in this class, without a shadow of a doubt. The midterm average was around 50% and the final average was around 60%. The homework and test grading is incredibly nit-picky, and small mistakes will cost you significantly. Again, though, if you study your homeworks and lecture proofs, you will have all of the material you need to pass the tests (despite "all the material" being *a lot* of material). If you can take this with someone who will give you a free A, do it. Otherwise, study hard, and you will succeed in this class, and meet a really kind and caring professor with an engaging lecture along the way.
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