I love prof Ponce. Gave practice midterms and final that were very similar to the real thing. He's extremely fair. Homework is kinda long, but utilize his office hours and you'll be fine. I can't wait to have him again.

hard homework, easy mid and final

Lectures are engaging. Tests are things we have practiced a lot. As long as you fully understand the concepts and know how to utilize them, his class is definitely not hard.

Ponce is definitely one of my favorite professors. Weekly homework might be a bit rough and his lectures are fast paced and difficult, but tests are EXTREMELY fair. He really cares about his students, and if you visit in OH, he gives careful answers to your questions. Do his midterm & final practice problems and you will ace any test he gives.

Was worried to take him bc of his ratings, but he was seriously the most caring and helpful math prof I've had so far. HW was worth 50% of grade which was nice and when it was difficult he went over anything you needed in OH. No midterm, occasional quizzes that were super fair, and final was long but not too bad. Excited to have him again in fall.

I think he might bad at lower div. math class and also have heavy accent but look at his syllabus, 50% of HW is def. worth it. though HWs are tough to do so go to his OH he will show you how to crack them down. Final is not tough but the grading might be strict if you are not clear. Recommend for MATH8 and might take 108A with him again

Dr. Ponce i s absolutely brilliant, and was one of the best professors I have ever had here at UCSB. He is very helpful and cares that his students learn. The exams were not easy, but very doable, and nothing unexpected or unfair showed up. There was a large amount of difficult homework, but it's weighted high and is fair. I will miss Ponce.

Awesome prof, he really made sure people understood the material and encouraged questions. Easy to get an A or B if you go lecture and read the textbook. The tests were easy, often straight from the textbook and never unexpected material. Would recommend for upper div math/conceptual classes.

Just never ever take his class.

Lectures are hard to get through and the homeworks are pretty tough. However, the quizzes are fairly simple and the exams are just as easy as the quizzes.

He's really good at explaining the material and the overall class is easy so long as you pay attention.

Ponce is a very respected professor. But he is really a tough grader. Be care of that, besides he is really helpful in office hours. But try to take care of any details of the homework.

Fantastic professor. He REALLY knows his stuff and he focuses on trying to help us develop a very intuitive understanding of the material overall. Very challenging homework (can submit it in groups), but his exams are consequently a breath of fresh air (for 118, at least). Super helpful in office hours. He really wants everyone to get the material.

Ponce is an incredible professor. His lectures are very thorough and if you read and understand the notes you can get an A in the class. Tests are not hard but beware his harsh grading and make sure to provide every detail when preforming a proof for him. Understanding is a far greater ally in his class than memorization. One of the best lecturers.

Pretty decent overall. Sometimes he goes really fast and doesn't explain what he's doing. He also makes a lot of mistakes

Ponce is very unique in the UCSB math department. While most professors seem approachable in class, and intimidating in office hours, Ponce is the opposite. He goes very fast, and is a little hand wavy sometimes, but he cares more than any other teacher that you're learning. Go to office hours, ask him to explain things in lecture, you'll do fine.

Had a 100 percent in the class until the final and ended up getting a N. Could never fully understand his accent which made the lectures essentially useless. He made the class much more difficult than it needed to be.

Lectures were incoherent and super hard to understand. Midterm was doable, but the final was insanely hard. Grades very hard and doesn't give out partial credit. Avoid at all costs.

Ah Ponce, possibly the worst professor I've ever had. His lectures were incoherent, the midterm was do-able but the final was insane. He originally stated you needed a 50% on it to pass the class but he posted the solutions & I know I got 40%, which means everyone failed and the curve was insane. Go to CLAS, you'll need all the help you can get.

CLASS 4B NOT 5A!! So this class was a unique one to say the least. The Midterm was so easy and straightforward, 4 Questions with some partial credit. I literally got a 100%! But the final was freaking insane and out of this world and you need above a 50% on it which is harder than getting a 100 on the midterm. His final is tricky, be ready for it

A lot of people didn't like his lectures, but I thought they were very helpful. However, he gives almost no communication about anything - what's on the finals, what the curve will be, etc. The practice problems he gave weren't very related to the test and some were not solvable. Also, his tests have no partial credit.

Tries to teach material solely through complex, unorganized examples, all while speaking with a barely intelligible accent. Don't trust the homework, or even the lectures, as his tests will actually be on things he spent 2 minutes talking about. On tests, be prepared for the most complex questions he can think up (pun intended).

couldn't stand going to lectures. very disorganized, lots of examples but no structure. never knew what we were supposed to be learning. try to get a good ta

4B is tough as it is, and Ponce's accent doesn't help much. He teaches by giving a lot of examples but there is no order of organization to his lectures (which are just chalk on the board) so it ends up being confusing. He doesn't like to give partial credit even though all the tests are free response. Hopefully you get an amazing TA!