Great guy, you can talk with him for hours outside of class. Lectures aren't anything special.
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.
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.
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...
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).
Just hands out a worksheet and waits for someone to ask him questions during lecture. He also doesn't really mention anything about the midterms leading up to them? Always has to be reminded to put the time up for midterms. Said he'd been prepping for another class's midterm and didn't get to spend as much time helping prep for our midterm.
Professor Schley is genuinely the worst professor I have ever had at UCSB. He would not tell us what was on the midterm and he told us three days before that we needed to know 3 more chapters and his practice test was so hard so I dropped the class.
Dr. Schley is one of those instructors who very much cares about people learning. I greatly enjoyed his teaching style and willingness to revisit topics when needed. Of course, the material is difficult but he makes it much more exciting and gives motivation behind the proofs. I would definitely take another class with him!
Schley is an amazing teacher and person. He was genuinely interested in the things he taught and that made his class all the better. His office hours were great and at the end gave copious amounts of extra credit so grades weren't an issue. Its a upper-div math class so you should prepare as such. If you don't like it take a comm class lol.
His lectures are extremely unorganized and complicate the material. He treats the textbook like it's a sacred text and his approach to teaching is "I am a guide but I can't make you learn the material." Unbelievable amount of homework. Despite this, he is very forgiving and accommodating when the class is struggling.
Very boring lecture and very heavy homework. Office hours is not helpful at all. Avoid him if you can.
I took Math 8 with Nathan in the summer, and I had a great time in this course. His lectures help you summarize the chapters of the textbook, so reading the textbook is very important. Please study for this course if you want a good grade! I didn't study enough and got a B+.
I took Math 8 over the summer with Nathan, and all I can say is that he was great. I think this is the first class I take at UCSB where I don't feel forced to watch online videos to actually understand what is going on. That said, we had lots of homework and some problems were very involved. Also, this guy takes deadlines very seriously.
I enjoyed his teaching more than I had anticipated based on his other reviews. He's incredibly dedicated to helping students understand course material. Lectures are heavy on student engagement: it's awkward when the class is quiet, but participate and you'll learn much better. Homework is harder than assessments; grading is generous w/ EC offered.
He does not accept any late homework even if you have appropriate excuses. He forces students to engage in class and no one responds, which is super awkward. He only spends time on the easy parts of the course but doesn't teach well on the hard parts.
He is a fair and very good professor. I like to study with him.
Last minute he changed the grade percentage which affected my overall grade, gave us a written final and oral final. I do not recommend this guy. If there is an option "0" I will have no hesitation of giving that.
Great guy, however his lectures were hard to follow, so after the second midterm I just stopped going. The class overall was very easy but the section quizzes were very hard. He would either make them ridiculously difficult or the material would straight up just not be what we're learning in lecture. Average of 4/10 on quizzes but ended with an A.
Prof Schley is very passionate about the material he teaches. It took a while for me to get used to his style of teaching as it is very conceptual. Math 6A builds on itself and staying on top of the material is important. Weekly quizzes were difficult and on pretty specific topics but they were only 10% of the grade.
When going to office hours he helps decently. I will say though Academically I went to CLAS (Which honestly without that I would not have passed) everyday for 2 hrs to help me study and do the homework. Overall sweet guy but not the best teacher.
Look, will he be late to your 8 am, Yes. Will you not understand what's going on, Yes. Will you learn from lecture, maybe? Will lecture be a good use of time, probably not. But the guy is very nice and tries to be funny. He brought our whole class donuts to apologize for being late one time, and played his guitar for us when we do well on tests.
Nice guy, not a great professor. He spends way too much time focusing on simple problems we learned in kindergarten and skips over things we actually need to know. He shows up late and then goes on random tangents completely unrelated to math. If you have to take this class, get a different professor or wait until next quarter.