Professor Dai cannot teach at the level that should be expected at a University of this caliber. Lectures and lecture notes are borderline useless and most sections will not be helpful as well. The only way I got through this was with CLAS. You basically have to teach yourself the entire course. Use 3B1B on youtube and if you can, do not take Dai.
He doesnt go in depth at all (he barely speaks English) and then tests on things that were never discussed, in homework, on quizzes, or in the textbook. Also, quizzes and homework were worth basically nothing so if you did poorly on the midterm or final, youre screwed. Not a good or fair teacher at all.
As a 1st quarter freshman, I just want to say that college marks a severe drop in the quality of education we receive. Dai is not a great teacher, as the comments below have affirmed, but this applies to most of my professors in general. You just do everything by yourself and show up to the tests. You pay for a degree, not an education. Pathetic.
Everyone has already mentioned how his lectures suck and he how doesn't teach. But I'd also like to add that his grading is really really weird and brutal. I got a poor grade on the final and idk if the class will be curved or not. I hope there's just a high school style curve where he just adds percentages to grades, but idk if that will happen.
Dai's lectures were alright, and so was the homework. The final was horrible, and nothing like the practice problems (even though the midterm was exactly like the practice problems he gave us..). I got an A- on the midterm and had 100% on everything else but the final is worth so much so my grade still sucks and I don't know if he curves.
The tests weigh 85%. Miss a number? You are screwed. Almost 1k students, what do you expect to learn?
He seems like a nice person, but his lectures just don't cut it if you want to do well. The reason I'm going to get an A is that I signed up for CLAS, and if you want an A, do the same. With CLAS the class is easy. Bonderson was awesome. Dai though will walk through easy stuff really slowly, then explain completely new concepts in a few minutes.
Worst professor I've ever seen. He won't even explain concepts clearly before he actually talked about it. Spoke very slow and spent a long time on easy ones and almost skipped hard ones. So regretful taking this class.
It's a math class and you see more letters than you see numbers. He only teaches the concepts and not how to do problems so it's really up to you to actually learn and be able to apply that knowledge to the problems on the midterm and Final. If you're a bio major, go take stats instead honestly, don't even stress
He tries to make you remember stuff with dumb phrases that don't make sense or aren't memorable
Dai is a really funny and seems to care about his students, but he wasn't very good at explaining the material and answering his students questions. I attended the lectures only for iClicker. Reading the textbook and attending CLAS was really helpful for his class. If you do take him, make sure you do the homework seriously.
He knows his stuff, but can't seem to express it clearly. If you make enough of an effort to review his notes and read the textbook, you'll pass. Also just do the HW and iClicker stuff, its free points.
absurd tests. who assigns a hundred problems in a textbook for the study guide, and then puts two questions on the final that none of those problems would help you with...
He can be a little confusing and its hard to stay awake for lectures, but he does his best. He seems to care about the students. I ended up learning a lot outside of class with section, CLAS, and the homework. It isn't too difficult if you work hard to understand the key concepts at the beginning.
Lectures are mandatory but you are better off trying to teach yourself from the textbook. He's that bad.
People love to rant about Dai mainly because he has a heavy accent. But apart from that, his lectures are very straightforward and easy to follow. The course itself can be quite easy as long as you focus in class and do make use of CLAS (get Vince Zaccone if you can). Do the homework and focus in class. You'll be fine.
Professor Dai, to put it mildly, made us Dai. His lectures and curriculum are poorly organized. He tries to be funny with bad memes and Star Wars references (sometimes Transformers) but wastes time doing it. His homework makes the class seem easy, but then he destroys you with his tests. For the love of all that is good, don't take his class.
Don't listen to all of the bad reviews, this professor is great. He gives lots of examples after introducing concepts and is very patient when asking questions. He also tells a lot of math jokes that are pretty dry but that is what makes them funny. As long as you pay attention in class,you should be just fine.
Professor Dai is a funny person and seems like a really nice guy. He is very knowledgeable about the material, but is simply not skilled at conveying this information to his students. Lectures are convoluted and never finish on time, the homework is rather buggy, and the midterms are difficult as they do not reflect the homework or classwork.
Understood material pretty well but could've studied more. Failed both midterms. Grading rubric too tough. He doesn't prepare you well for the exams and the hw/quizzes are in no way related to the tests. Test questions are tricky & convoluted. People go to lecture for iClicker points but it's not worth your time.
His English is not that good. As for teaching, he is ok. But he gives hard tests.
Dr. Dai 's class style is humorous. He will show examples to every point he mentions in his class. He is patient to explain the concepts you don't understand, after class or in his office hours.
Not bad.
Very poor lecturer, often uses terminology and calculations without explaining how and where they came from, and what they mean. Pray you get a good TA.
