worst professor. unorganized and uncommunicative throughout the quarter. all the exams ended up being online but they were all super difficult. would post everything he said he would late. never released the grades for anything even after grades were due. and he missed the deadline so i didn't know my grade until two weeks after grades were due.

Actually no help at all during the entire quarter. Inaccessable by any means of communication, lectures that are just him reading off the textbook, no clear criteria on grading, Its past finals week and still dont know what I got on any of the assignments in the quarter.

We had two online quizzes, a midterm, a final project, and a final exam. He forgot to post study material for the in-person midterm so he postponed it for 10 days and made it online. I'm writing this the day before finals week and he hasn't posted grades for any of the quizzes or midterm so we have no idea of what our current grades are. Hard class

Like most ucsb math profs the problem is that he's obviously an expert in his field, but he has zero knowledge in actually educating. I didn't even need this class for credit I just wanted to learn smt but it wasn't worth it at all. Don't take if u have an heavy course-load, if you're capable of self learning everything then go ahead.

Only a few quizzes and tests mattered in this class. Be ready to read the textbook and do the optional problems to prepare. Otherwise, a very straightforward professor with clear criteria.

Pedersen is a highly intelligent professor. The notation is quite confusing especially if you are unfamiliar with actuarial notation. The tests are extremely hard, but luckily he allows open everything so you can use outside resources to help you do well. I would recommend taking this class with Pedersen if you are interested in the subject matter