MATH 118B
PONCE G
Gustavo Ponce
2.5
107 reviews

108
2.5
118B . Ponce G 1 Year, 6 Months Ago

legend. One of the best for upper divs.

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118B . Ponce G 2 Years Ago

If you can manage getting up at 8am, this is a solid class. Very good lectures and he always leaves room for questions. Although the homeworks were difficult, the exams were very fair. Plus he's very accessible in office hours. Attendance is sometimes taken, and he sometimes gave quizzes with about a week's notice.

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118B . Ponce G 7 Years Ago

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

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4A . Ponce G 19 Days Ago

While the class is relatively easy to get through, the homework was frustratingly long and I never really got what he was talking about in lecture. He works through things fast and doesn't spend time explaining much. I know a friend who went to lecture once the whole quarter, studied the week before the final, and got an A. The final is worth 40%..

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4A . Ponce G 28 Days Ago

I went to every lecture, but didn't gain much. Occasionally, he would mention a topic that may show up on the midterm. A large lecture issue was the computational errors. (multiple times per lecture) Also, even my TA didn't understand one of the homework problems. The final was 40% and no partial credit, but the problems and curve were fair.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

Ponce is the worst math professor I have seen. His final was easy in retrospect, but didn't grade for partial credit. I never went to his lectures because when I did, I couldn't understand what he was doing. You can easily self study but avoid him at all costs. I am a math major and he is an awful professor.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

Very easy class with a generous curve at the end. Make sure to check work well for midterms and final because there was no partial credit at all. The homework was weekly and pretty difficult.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

Terrible lectures, I ended up just going to CLAS and self studying by the end of the quarter. The final and midterms were very easy, with basic questions about the material. Easy to succeed in terms of grade if you just want the credit but would not recommend if you actually want to learn the material.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

A horrible lecturer who just reads slides that aren't his + he has an accent (chill/nice guy tho). TA was horrible, was passive-aggressive & always boasted about how lucky we were to have him. 3 online midterms (ChatGPT). Homework was 20 problems/week which were hard (ChatGPT). Self-study class, I got a B even tho I barely put in the effort.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

super hard to follow during lectures, ended up not going to them. relied on TA's review and just watched youtube videos. Pounce seems nice though. midterms and final were super easy they were just basic questions on the topics you learn. no conceptual questions, final was 5 questions but no partial credit. he curved the midterms and final.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

Overall not that bad of a class - lectures were kind of hard to follow, but examples in the latter half of the quarter were helpful. Would recommend going to math lab + TA office hours. 3 midterms that were online and pretty straightforward. The homework was honestly harder than both the midterms and final. Final was worth 40% but light.

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

HW is not similar to midterms or exams. Focus on the examples he does in lecture and worksheet from section. Ponce isn't a bad guy but his teaching is impossible to follow. Online midterms and final is 40%

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4A . Ponce G A Month Ago

Terrible professor that only teaches with 'this and thats". I went to most lectures, but generally got nothing out of it. Would not recommend if you are trying to learn the material.

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4A . Ponce G 2 Months Ago

Ponce's lectures can be hit-or-miss, but the class is manageable if you self-study and use resources like CLAS, section, and Unstuck AI. Exams are fair, just focus on understanding the material rather than memorizing.

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4A . Ponce G 10 Months Ago

Lectures are incomprehensible, with completely illegible handwriting. Professor makes little effort to communicate with students. Homework is annoyingly lengthy. The only redeeming factor for this professor was a very easy final.

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4A . Ponce G 11 Months Ago

Super nice guy but lectures felt a bit all over the place and he did not explain small but key ideas that really made studying quite difficult. I don't think I learned much from this class even though I went to lecture and did HW but if I had kept up better I could have easily gotten an A because the final was light.

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MATH4A . Ponce G 11 Months Ago

Gustavo Ponce's lectures can be quite hard to follow if you are trying to take notes while listening. I'd recommend just listening during the lecture and taking notes afterward. As long as you can grasp the problems and understand the homework, the midterm and final exam will be easy for you.

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4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Midterms were easy, final was also easy but had no partial credit and very few problems. This causes so much unnecessary stress and puts too much emphasis on answers instead of understanding. Lectures were actually very useful, but only in the last month of class. He is not approachable and definitely does not care much about lower div classes.

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MATH4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Lectures are useless, he uses another's professor's slides, which he learns WHILE teaching. It is better to learn the material through self-studying the slides he posts. CLAS Canvas course is VERY useful, so sign up for that. Two easy midterms online, and a 50% final. Practice final was VERY hard, and not at all representative of the actual final.

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MATH4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Professor Ponce is a horrible lecturer. A heavy accent combined with incomprehensible handwriting makes it impossible to learn in class. The homework assignments are also rather difficult and tedious. The two online midterms and the in-person final were all reasonably easy, but Ponce's sheer teaching inability is impossible to ignore.

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4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

went to lecture once. honestly depends on how well your TA prepares you for exams. YH is an actual goat

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4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Professor Ponce is NOT a good lecturer when it comes to this course. I and most others I knew in this course used CLAS, section, and YouTube to learn the content. However, his grading was very fair. He posted lecture material on Canvas, had two do-able online midterms, and though the final was 50% of our final grade it was very straightforward.

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4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

Ponce gets a bad rep for his lectures/accent, which is mostly justified. Despite this, he's a very chill professor who's lectures can be worth going to if they are not at 8am. Prepare to mostly self study, however. Homework load isn't too bad (20 q's/week), and if you have just a basic understanding of the material, the tests should be very easy.

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MATH4A . Ponce G 1 Year, 1 Month Ago

8AM lectures were not helpful, so it doesn't matter if you go or not. I learned the entire course content from YouTube. The final was weighed 50%, literally thought I was going to fail because I do not know how to do any of the practice questions he sent. But turns out the questions on the final were just direct computations! Pretty chill overall.

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