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+.

Dai is an excellent professor and accessible outside the class. I am not really good at math but I eventually got A. His notes and power point are organized. Just go over it after each class. Midterm and quiz are pretty easy. Final is easy with only one fair question he did not mention before. I used 10 minutes to figure that question out.

Not good

His lecture is boring but regular, which can completely convey what a student should know for this class. The amount of homework is little and the grading is loose, so MATH 4A teaches by him would not be a hard class.

He's terrible at explaining things. He doesn't go through examples and there's a ton of homework on stuff never talked about in class. Don't buy the book it's dry and unhelpful. DEFINITELY find a CLAS teacher if you have Dai so you can actually learn. Got 84% on the midterm and 55% on the final worth 55%. Actually cried real tears during the final

Lectures were okay. TA was ehhh. I went to CLAS and it helped guide me through the difficult concepts. I took the midterm got an A, then took the Final and got an F. I think (just a suggestion) you shouldn't make the final so incredibly difficult especially if it is worth 55% of your grade. This class totally ruined my major gpa.

Dude makes no sense. He doesnt explain any math problems, all of his lecture are arbitrary and he is terrible at answering questions, you might as well not go to lecture, it might just confuse you more. Pray you have a good TA! the only saving grace was the MASSIVE curve(15%), and for some reason at the end everyone's quiz grades raised to 100%

nice person, material itself is not that bad, but lectures werent helpful . learning myself most of the time. never tried this hard for a B. there is a curve, but barely raised my grade. good luck

Do not take his class. If you can afford to take it with a teacher with a better rating at another time then do it. He is awful at teaching and nothing makes sense. If it was not for my awesome TA, I probably would not have even passed the class. He is absolutely terrible. The class is graded on a few things.

Our final had a question (worth 8% of the final with little partial credit) that was NEVER seen before. Dai later uploaded the graded final to gradescope, unannounced. Most students are probably still unaware of how brutally he graded our test. It seems designed to cull our averages so more students would be in the B range. I guess he succeeded.

Professor Dai is just not good at explaining any of the concepts. Even though he posts all of his lectures online, which is very helpful, I would rewatch them several times and still not understand the concept. You just have to hope for a good TA and make sure you ask them a lot of questions.

The curve was slight for the final and only by half a grade. There's one midterm and one final. The midterm weighed 30% and the final weighed 55%. His lectures are generally boring and he records/posts them so there's no need to go. Sections are important with quizzes but they're generally pretty easy and TAs are so helpful.

He tried his best teaching the material and making lectures interesting. His hw is tedious and doesn't emphasize key concepts well. Work through the book problems because they're more straightforward and you'll pass

Only a 2% curve I believe, so naturally, my grade didn't get boosted at all. You'd think he'd at least give you a 3% curve so that everyone's letter grade got boosted by one stage, especially considering his inability to teach well.

He's a very friendly guy who tries his best to help students. However, he's really bad at lecturing. It's like he dances around the theory behind major concepts, but is unable to emphasize the important connections that make the material stick. Some may dig that; I didn't. Read along and load up on CLAS and tutoring hours to make up the difference.

Dai's personality is nice and he tries to be funny. It's like he was a failed stand up comic and decided he would try teaching and incorporate his "comedy there." The students that attended lecture would pity clap him. His lectures were the powerpoint word for word, with huge matrices. His explanations would skip HUGE steps. Take CLAS.

This guy was amazing in class, personality is amazing (this guy is a legend), and class was manageable up until the final. The final had material on it the we never covered! There was practically no curve. Since the final is worth 55% of the grade if you get screwed on the final you're done. So he made the final super hard on purpose. Never again.

He spends too much time explaining theorems and not enough showing how to solve problems so I learned all of the material in CLAS. The midterm and final are really straightforward and there arent any curveballs. Its definitely possible to get 100% on both of them if you make sure you get how to do all the practice problems he gives you.

Professor Dai illustrated everything very clearly during the classes. He is a very logical and knowledgeable person, having accent but can be accepted. For those people who say this class is hard, think of how much work you paid for this class. If you are not a stupid and pay enough for this class, then you will succeed.