One of the worst professors I've ever had. He covers basic topics during lectures and then tests us on extremely abstract, conceptual concepts that we never learned. No practice midterms, pretty much need to teach all of the the material to yourself in order to do well. Would not recommend!
Absolute worst professor ever, lectures are completely useless, nothing on the homework is covered by lectures, no practice tests for exams, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS
Hands down the worst professor Ive ever had. Super nice guy but an awful teacher. He explains nothing and assumes you know everything.
He's nice but that's about it. Not good at explaining things and is VERY conceptual, so if that's not ur way of understanding things I would avoid this prof. Oftentimes he will subtly go over new material in lecture and expect us to catch on without clearly indicating new rules or equations. No practice midterm before this first midterm too. Ugh
Mr. Schley was a good teacher and was very passionate about his lectures. He always tried to explain the complicated concepts in compressed ways and was very good about answering questions during lectures. That being said, the course material itself is quite complicated, so make good use of him, TAs and CLAS help! Allows index cards on exams!
The lectures were really good and helped explain material in a very intuitive way. The weekly section quizzes were way too hard, and not completely the same concepts that we learned in lecture. Midterms and finals were just like the practice problems he provides, and there aren't many surprises. Nice guy who genuinely wants students to succeed.
Professor Schley does a great job at teaching Math 6A since he always tries to explain the abstract concepts in the most simplest ways he can, and so it makes the course a lot more easier to digest. My only complaint would be the weekly section quizzes as they are unnecessarily difficult and test obscure/niche topics from section.
We had two midterms and a final that were pretty similar to the practice we were given however, we had really hard weekly quizzes in section. They curved them at the end because everyone was failing them and it only counted as 10% of the grade. The professor is super nice and the class is lecture heavy however I did a lot of learning on my own.
I have had prof Schley for 2 classes now, I think he is much better in upper division style classes that are more concept heavy than raw computation heavy. Both classes had a lot of homework and difficult weekly quizzes. If you want an easy A and to learn very little you probably wont like him as a professor.
Nice guy. Lectures heavily focus on concepts and intuition which is why most people find them bad or hard to understand. Personally I did not attend much lecture due to the triviality of the material in Math 6A, but I could see them being very good in a more difficult class. Schley is very caring and understanding, he dropped low quiz scores.
Explanations of concepts weren't too helpful, especially the more complex ones later on in the quarter. The free textbook was a lifesaver. Nice guy with fair exams, a LOT of homework.
Professor Schley is very good on teaching. When he introduces a topic, he is very logical and articulates a concept,which is the best I've ever seen. However, his TA "Jeremy" ruined everything, including RMP grade. I don't know what the future of him, but right now, in 2025 winter, "Jeremy" is always doing something thankless.
Professor Schley's class has a mix of pros and cons. While he cares about teaching and offers generous grading policies, his lectures can be confusing at times. I found unstuck ai helpful for reinforcing concepts alongside the textbook.
Nathan is quite literally the worst teacher/professor I've ever had. From not clearly answering questions, to assigning homework and quizzes weekly, I eventually had to drop his Math108A course, but if I stayed in his course, Im sure I would've gotten a C- or lower...
Schley gets too much hate in my opinion. This is probably because there are easier 4B professors at UCSB. I came out of the class feeling confident with the material, and that's what matters to me.
Professor Schley is very passionate and I've taken and enjoyed his classes before. His lectures can get off topic but I feel like he's taught me a lot, and his exams are very reasonable (exactly what you studied) and he allows notecards/cheat sheets on exams. If you keep up with the lectures and homework and study well you'll excel in his class.
Professor Schley is so passionate for teaching that I worry his lectures might mislead or overwhelm those just looking to pass. This is a flaw, but if you have interest in math, he will seem smart and entertaining. His exams are of average difficulty, his study guides are very useful, and his grading scheme rewards students who stay caught up.
RUN. Lectures are way too abstract and never really explains anything. It amazes me how he can explain so little in so many words. HW has few problems but require so much work (but gives you some ec). Prob wouldn't have passed the class if we didn't have a 4 hour online final with notecards. Prepare to self study your a off
His class is so easy; you just need to do the homework, understand his practice exam, and go to the section to take the quiz. Some of the quizzes are actually the same questions from the midterms and final. After that, you are good to get an A+.
Schley has a very unique style. His lectures focus on intuition and building an understanding instead of examples and practice. Math 6B was an extremely interesting class and although felt disorganized at times, Schley really cares about his students. Personally, I think people exaggerate the flaws in the class, but that is just my opinion.
Absolutely the worst.
[Standard Schley warning: I love him, but you probably won't]. My 3rd class with Schley. Extremely HW heavy (2~3 per week), so think twice before choosing him. Suited for self-motivated students who want a VERY solid & difficult Math 8 class. Tests are very hard and demand full mastery of lecture and HW contents. Grade: A+ (one of the only few).
[Standard Schley warning: I love him, but you probably won't]. | Tests are easy in my opinion, but does includes some topics he teaches on his own. Lecture is controversial, while some love it and find it absolutely fantastic(myself included), others feel it's the worst in UCSB. Final is administered online. Early HW gets extra points. | Grade: A+.
Perhaps the worst lecturer I have encountered
