Math major. Took this as my first math class at UCSB. I didn't do well for the midterm, but I studied hard for the final and got an A. After taking a lot of math courses, I think he is one of the several professors that explain things clear and organized. If you want to get an A, just do all the homework and all the recommended exercises!

do not take his class

The lectures and homework teach enough to pass, but you'll want to go to CLAS to get an A/B. The exams are much harder than the homework and the textbook is horrible so it's hard to study, but if you go to CLAS and keep up with homework you should be fine. He's an average lecturer, not amazing but not horrible.

TBH Dai is not that good at explaining math stuffs and his lectures can be boring but he does seem caring. The class is primarily based on 1 midterm & 1 final. Most questions are fair if you read the textbook & do the hw and a few of them are slightly harder. If u learned linear algebra before/work hard on textbook&hw it's not hard to get an A.

The homework was very numbers-based, but then on the midterm and final, it was mostly proofs and not many actual problems to solve. Received almost perfect scores on all homework and quizzes, but the exams were impossible. He's a great teacher with lots of enthusiasm, however, the examples given didn't help much for preparing to take the test.

I don't understand why so many people think Dai is not good. You can't expect all the questions on final are easy and taught before. If you are math major and come from China or India, this class will be very easy and fundamental. At least 80% of people I know got A or A+.