This is probably the hardest class Ive ever taken. Professor Peters is insanely smart in a way that makes it hard to follow sometimes but it is also super inspiring. I look up to him. Doesnt always know how much work hes really giving you, but seems to listen when everyone speaks up.
Dr. Peters is probably my favorite professor thus far at UCSB. His lectures are extremely fast and that certainly takes getting used to. If you review are caught up his lectures are very clear and helpful, and if you fall behind he has a great youtube channel and online lectures. PDE's are a hard subject and in my opinion he makes them fun!
Nice guy, but horrible Professor. Lectures are all over the place. Goes EXTREMELY fast when lecturing. Post notes, but what he writes on the board often deviates from what the notes online. Hell make you laugh at times, but definitely needs to work on his teaching skills. Prepare to be lost the majority of the time.
He is Awesome
Peter's has been one of my favorite professors. He is super generous when grading exams and the homework load is fairly light. In order to do well on exams, you definitely need to have a good understanding of the subject, only doing the hw is not good enough.
Duncan is brilliant but he makes this class incredibly difficult to pass. The exams weren't too hard but you get no cheat sheet during the exams for a class that is solely made up of formulas. I enjoyed the material but bombed both the midterm and final because its impossible to understand/memorize all of those formulas. Homework is a grade booster
I got 2 A's.
Professor Duncan is a great teacher for those interested in the subject he's teaching. He's very passionate. Like any other math class, if you put in the work you'll do fine. Warning: if you have the option, don't take this class in summer! I loved the material but 6 weeks wasn't enough time to grasp everything.
Arrogant, skips a lot of classes, makes fun of students. Lecture examples are ridiculously simple, while homework is hard, and tests are extremely difficult. Midterm average was 36% and he decided not to curve it. I did better than 70% of the class and got a B-
Ian's experience in the industry is unmatched. If you want to learn what it means to be an actuary, you must talk to him. That said, this is a very hard class and you should probably only take 172 if you plan to sit for MLC
Duncan is very good at explaining concepts and is definitely willing to help, however, his exams are quite tough. He has used exam FM questions on his tests which helps prepare for FM. There is weekly homework which is moderately challenging but definitely doable.
Seriously, Prof. Duncan is an expert in this area. Though he was busy, he held office hours on Sundays, which I enjoyed. His explanations are crystal clear. Exams might be little bit challenge, but not that hard if you truly understand the material. But it's unlikely if you hope to get A by learning everything one night before exams.
Just awful. Easily the most arrogant person I've ever met. Doesn't post grades. Gave pretty much everyone C's.
The notes are worthless I've relied on outside sources for everything The class is not helping students to learn Ideas on exams were never introduced Midterm average was 10/25
Great classs and grat professor, I really enjoyed going to class!
great online notes and very willing to help. His lectures can be difficult to follow sometimes but overall his classes are easy IF u have a very good understanding of the material. Don't expect going through the same old routine from homework on the exam. Exams require applying principles you learned to a new situation you haven't practiced.
Lectures are very confusing. Your best bet is to follow his notes and learn from them + online resources.
Duncan is not very organized and does not grade very fairly. It seems as though he does not know the material very well because everything he says and write comes off of paper. Relies on students to do tedious problems on the board while the other 30 students watch a basic integral calculation for 15 minutes. Also switches syllabus on week 9.
Calls on people during lecture and insults them if they do not know the answer to the question asked. No grades entered into Gauchospace so had no idea about my grade going into exams. Exams did not reflect the difficulty of homework and example problems. Lectures are long and boring, and he goes off on tangents on unrelated subjects.
Did not show up to half of lectures. When he does show up he just copies his notes onto the board and doesn't really teach. Exams can be quite different from hw and he is almost never available for office hours. Doesn't check exams for typos and doesn't show up on exam days to correct them. Needs students to help him solve basic integrals.
Eh, he's a great guy, pretty bad at teaching though. His biggest problem is that his thoughts and lectures are pretty unorganized. Often times his tests are pretty unrelated to the class, and studying doesn't really change much. While he's willing to help, he's not the best at explaining things.
Tests on random things, which you can never really see coming. Although he is brilliant, he expects his students to be able to have that instantaneous engineering insight that only comes with years of experience, instead of giving you the real tools/methods to solve things in ways that ALWAYS work. Try to learn his style early on so you will be OK
Great lecturer and fantastic source of information.
Very very very difficult tests. Good lectures and always willing to help.
