Don't take this course with this person if you are okay with poor-quality teaching, I'd wish I could sign up with Professor Porter instead of this guy, he is not meant to teach at the university, confuses people even more.
He was a very nice guy. Cared about his students and gave extra credit on our homework. The average grade in our class was really high, so he obviously did a good job teaching the material.
Very boring lecture and very heavy homework. Office hours is not helpful at all. Avoid him if you can.
Wow. Worst teacher i've ever had. A very nice man I'm sure, but utterly and wholly incompetent. I had him for 34a and 34b, and just wait to take this class with another professor. Simply not worth it at all. Lectures are completely useless and hard to follow, couldn't even do his own problems in class. He's so disorganized and just.. don't.
Very hands-off teaching style, but he will help you if you go to office hours. Super important to find a group you trust to succeed. 2 Midterms and 1 Collab Final Project with Homework due every week. Can be seen as too much to learn by yourself, but he'll work with you
He is kind. He does not go very in depth into the content and lectures are short. 102A is very group oriented which it makes it quite easy. Workload is light. I enjoyed the final project and presentation.
nathan loves math and wants us to succeed. if you do the hw and take notes from lectures and/or textbook you will do well. the course is well designed and lectures and hw are helpful, but people have bad attitudes and complain. tests aren't too hard you just need to know the concepts; lin alg is very conceptual. 11% extra credit for doing hw early.
He seems like he genuinely cares about his students. However, he's a pretty bad teacher and it seems like he doesn't really know what he's talking about. He makes a lot of mistakes during his lectures and honestly I'm more confused after attending his lectures. Take him as a professor only if you're good at self-studying.
If you ask me what I've learned for the past 7 weeks from this man literally nothing comes to mind. I review all his lecture slides and materials and still don't understand how I'm learning anything. he worst part is that although he doesn't make sense the TA Christine Alar is also unhelpful as well. He also rarely posts answers to his study guides
Lecture is a complete waste of time. Prof rarely does example problems with the class which is unfortunate considering how many he assigns. Spends most of lecture reading off slides he's forgotten. Material+tests are pretty simple and all it takes is a competent CLAS tutor to do well Easily the most useless prof/lecture I've had here (4th yr)
I'm sure he's a great person but this man cannot teach. My friend and I decided to teach ourselves the material instead of actually going to lecture. We've noticed we can get more done and actually understand it that way. 0/10 would not recommend. If you have the choice choose Peter Garfield as your math34b professor.
Seems like a lovely person who wants his students to succeed but he does not know how to teach. We went over his quiz question and even he was doing it wrong
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 is a fun teacher but doesn't have a focus on his lecture.
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.
I took his math111 series throughout my third year in UCSB. Even though the course material is really hard and tedious, he tried his best to make it funny and easy to understand. He is a really fantastic and friendly prof. Moreover, there would be some big curve (upward curve) for the students so that we could get good grade. He is really good!!!!
If you want to truely learn and grasp Abstract Algebra, stay away from this professor.
This is a COOP class so make friends. All HW and even the final can be done with friends so make some. Also, go to his OH he will help you after the 20 other ppl in line.
Investigation heavy course but all work can be submitted as groups making this a COOP class (minus tests). Go to his OH, he will help you a lot.
Study with him. You can learn a lot. And his exam is doable.
He is a fair and very good professor. I like to study with him.
Nathan is a very nice and caring Professor but should not be a teacher. Although he does want his students to do well, he is not a strong/clear lecturer. I ended up having to teach most of the material to myself. Exams include abstract concepts/rules that he expects you to know just because he knows them.