Definitely take him if you have the option. The tests are very similar to the review worksheets and are super easy. Homework completion is important. Overall, awesome and very considerate professor.
Math 2A is difficult if you have minimal pre-calculus experience, but doable. If you need help, utilize his office hours along with math lab and CLAS. Lectures are not mandatory, but would highly recommend attending, 8 am makes it easy to skip, but going will save your grade.
Took it during Winter 22 and the midterms and final exam were online. Lecture attendance doesn't matter but section attendance does count.
Genuinely cares about his students and their well-being. Took it during Fall 21 and the final exam was online. Lecture attendance doesn't matter but section attendance does count.
His lectures are super clear, he really makes statistics easy. I did online/asynchronous, but he was always accessible outside of class. Not an insane amount of work, but enough that you really get it. Just watch the videos and take notes on the blank notes he gives you and you will be fine. Homework is often more difficult than the exams.
Had Prof Porter for MATH 2A/2B and was able to do well on both with no precalculus experience beforehand. His lectures are a bit monotonous, but if you take notes and go to mathlab to complete the homework assignments you will grasp the content just fine. The grading scale is very fair and the study guides are quite reflective of the test material.
Amazing professor! He doesn't grade harshly at all and if you do bad on the midterms you'll most likely be fine. Most of your grade comes from the homework and attending section so it's not bad at all. He's also a really good professor, it takes a minute to get used to his teaching but once you do he's great!
I had a horrible experience with this professor, first professor I have had a bad experience with here. He was too quiet in lectures and has marked students wrong for correct answers on exams. You can still get an A in this course, 70% of your grade is homework but the professor is a bad teacher and harsh grader.
Very understanding and teaches you exactly what you're going to be tested on.
I had Prof Porter for both MATH 2A and MATH 2B, and have absolutely no complaints at all. He is very responsive to emails, and seems to really care about the success of students. Your grade really depends on the amount of effort you put in. There are so many resources to get an A in these classes.
Don't take this class. I physically cried during his midterm. Take literally any other professor. Is this the only math class open? I don't care. Take a math class next semester.
Good lecturer, would recommend going every time because they really help me understand the material. Homework can take forever sometimes, but does help me get it. Tests are like the practice work but easier.
Professor Porter would be a great professor, in my opinion, if his lectures weren't at 8am. He can be a little monotone and trying to focus at 8am with a teacher always within the same cadence is a struggle. Webwork (online hw) can take forever sometimes but tests are pretty easy and very similar to the review packets.
Professor Porter is an easy to follow lecturer. He has clearly organized the class online to make lecture outlines available and uploads notes after classes. He is very quick to respond to emails. This class does require hard work, but is doable with the right mindset and effort. The grading scheme is fair. There are 2 midterms and one final.
Amazing. His lectures are straightforward and exam questions will almost always replicate his lecture examples. His grading goes by homework (70% of your grade), 2 midterms and 1 final (all 3 exams being 10% of your grade). Hw is graded by completeness/correctness so as long as you do hw you're already good for an A. Please give this man a raise.
Not sure how he is in person, but the online format was suuuuuper lenient to the students. If you did the homework and showed up for the tests, you were guaranteed a really solid grade. The lectures were very good too.
Amazing lecturer. Professor Porter is the best math professor I have ever had. His lectures are extremely straightforward and he makes the material easy to grasp. Exams cover the material and there are no random questions you have never seen before. Overall a great guy and I would love to take a class with him again!
The majority of your grade is homework (60%) which can be time-consuming but is pretty easy to get 100% on if you put in the effort. He's really understanding, is pretty responsive on forums, and his lectures are straightforward. His lecture upload schedule is a bit sporadic but nothing crazy. Overall, highly reccommend.
BEST MATH PROF EVER!!! Take this class. His lectures are so clear and he responds to his students so fast. Your overall grade is based mainly on homework, which is easy to get 100% on, and the exams are very little weight of the grade. He gives a lot of time for the exams and grades very fairly. HE IS TRULY A GEM!
Smart guy, great lecturer.
Super lenient grading homework & review was worth 70% of our total grade. Exams weren't that stressful, either. We were given more time than we needed (3 hours) and could take it anytime within a 24h period. Homework sets are due every Thursday. They're time consuming but doable, I definitely had to pace myself.
My favorite math teacher in UCSB. Clear organization of the courses. Acceptable loads HW. Quiz and final are pretty basic and easy if you put enough efforts in his lecture, HW and materials.
Porter is a really nice professor. His exams are really easy, as long as you follow along the lecture and homework, you can get an A. He's also really considerable, you can discuss with him if any problem came up, and he would even adjust his grading scale according to the situation.
Organised lectures with all the notes posted online. He has a monotone voice but he explains the concepts quite well. The material gets significantly harder during the second half of the quarter, so go to CLAS if you need help and you should be fine. The midterms are manageable if you do the homework and the practice questions.