One of the best professors I ever had. He gave many examples, prepared youtube videos to help students and explained the concepts from first principles. He also went out of his way to help students.

The professor was very approachable. We played basketball with him, talked about life challenges, and he gave me a lot of life lessons I can use when I go to industry. The Prof made me feel that my questions mattered and clearly explained the concepts in a way that I understood it in a systematic manner. Kudos to him for putting all the effort he did.

Tough professor, and you never know what you expect. Very clear and helpful, funny, and gives lots of life lessons. Prof. Goyal is the best professor I had, his industry experience brings this course to another level. Extremely responsive and run the class like an orchestra. TAs were spectacular as well. Thank you Prof Goyal!

Caring professor, highly recommend. Explains concepts clearly and gives tons of extra credit to encourage participation. He also comes from industry so provides practical perspectives. Cant wait to take another course with him!

As many other reviews have said, take this professor, but be ready for an unpredictable quarter. By no means is he a normal professor. His lectures are engaging and funny and he often heads off on tangents (which were both useful and interesting) about his experiences and lessons learnt in the industry. He gives tons of extra credit so turn up to lectures (you can earn 2% of your grade by answering one simple question in lecture). The tests aren't super easy but if you've done the homework and paid some attention in lecture you'll be fine. And hey, if worst comes to worst, you can make up a bad midterm with extra credit!
Unfortunately, the quarter was ruined a little by some ungrateful grumpy students who complained because the extra credit depended whether you put your hand up in class and wasn't "equally distributed" as they claimed. They're probably the same people who give Prof Goyal bad reviews. They ruined the extra credit which Prof Goyal had to stop about week 7 because they complained to the dean (absolute losers really).
Other than that, this class is a definite take because it will spice up your life from the normal lectures and professors and you'll learn a lot too. You might even get to play basketball with the Prof!

This class was kind of a clown show. The material itself is fairly simple and very similar to Physics 1A. I think most people could do well without ever showing up to class. Professor Goyal tried his very hardest to make sure everyone got a good grade, giving out a boatload of extra credit. I think it's safe to say that you could get an F on the midterm and final and still end up with an A. Professor Goyal himself wasn't a great teacher. He really skimmed over the lectures quickly and if you didn't already understand the material, you would have a really hard time. He also acted, to put it simply, like an unpredictable child. He was by far the most unprofessional professor I've ever had.

Amazing professor who cares for his students. Some students didnt do well in the midterm exam and he went out of his way to help everyone by providing a redo. I learned so much because of all the opportunities he gave not only for improvement but also in the class. No professor does that and some students frankly were appreciative of this, dont get why. Highly recommend Prof Goyal as you will be learning so many life lessons

Definitely a character. Personally, I thought he was okay and thought the class was manageable. The extra credit definitely helps and there were lots of opportunities to bring up your grade. He made the material seem easy and gave lots of examples for you to study and follow. The lectures were sometimes useless because he often just skipped through the slides, but it was important to go for the extra credit opportunities. If you are a quiet student and just keep your head down and do your work, you shouldn't run into any problems. However, if you're the kind of student who likes to complain about tests or ask the professor for more time then I wouldn't recommend this class for you. I know a lot of people who absolutely hated this professor because he was not good at compromising and would not take anything from anyone. So if you can't keep your cool and just accept that things won't be fair, I wouldn't take this class. Other than that, I thought the tests and homework were fair. The quizzes were difficult and a little ridiculous at times but I don't think they were a large part of the grade (1-2 question weekly discussion quizzes). Overall would recommend taking this class as it was pretty low stress (outside of the occasional in-class drama) and a pretty medium/low workload.

Very good professor and caring. He brought critical thinking too the course and connects it well to industry.

Definitely the best mechE class I’ve taken at UCLA so far. Professor Goyal is extremely knowledgeable on the topic and I think the fact that he is still working in the industry means that he has interesting and applicable examples for all the concepts that he teaches. I think the class is structured in a way that you are constantly being refreshed on past concepts. Additionally, the projects are long and tedious but they really make you understand the concepts behind your FEM algorithms. He also records all his lectures and they’re posted on YouTube, which is nice because you can reference them in the future as well. He is very understanding of student circumstances, and the quarter I took it he gave us extra credit for watching inspirational videos and writing down what we learned from them. He is overall a great and caring professor.