She is nice as a person but this ENTIRE course needs to be restructured. Lecture slides are NOT AT ALL representative of what's on the exam. Wrote an extremely difficult final, but she's VERY generous in handing out As (curved like crazy). Lectures are USELESS (>80% don't go). Just grind the 6 practice exams and MEMORIZE those problems to get an A!
The midterm had easy points. Final was tough, average was a 49, but overall really wasn't that bad. Homework is hard, but find a friend who has taken the class before to give you answers and easy points. If you attend the section, you get 2% extra credit added to your final grade. Top 35% get an A, next 50% get a B, and the rest C and below.
I think the course is pretty solid. The lectures build a lot on optimization, so make sure you're comfortable solving those problems from the first section. The homework can be a bit challenging, but it's doable if you put in the effort. Going through past exams, especially the recent ones, is super helpful.
You will stress. You may cry. You will not (statistically) fail. Check the Daily Nexus for the grade distribution. Make a friend who took this class already to get the problem set answers from. Get your extra credit from section attendance. I did substantially worse than average on both the MT and final and still got a B. You can do it.
Don't bother going to lectures, problem sets are tricky so I would recommend taking this class with a few friends or finding a study group. Midterm and final were not terrible and were pretty strait forward and similar to past exams.
I think her lectures are pretty clear. The midterm is easy, while the final is hard. The letter grades seem generous.
Her class is not as difficult as many people say. I doubt that those people don't attend the lecture at all. The lecture is very helpful and easy to understand, she explains everything clearly in class. If you attend the lecture and sections, and read some textbooks, the problem set is quite doable. The exam is hard but the curve is very generous.
She's not as bad as people say. Her lectures are pretty good, but you need to read the textbook on your own. Sections are important! Her homework is a little hard but doable. Although the final is hard, the curve is very generous.
The professor's lectures consist of her reading off slides, going on tangents, and skipping over math. She doesn't allow the TAs to help with problem sets, which are only doable if you self-teach the material before they are due. I recommend taking a different professor for this course if possible.
Worst class I've taken at UCSB, do not take her at all costs this is your warning
Lecture slides skip over every math step needed to get the answer, VERY little practice problems that are on material taught. Lectures are pointless, she yaps about graphs that have zero relevance Grade is 30% homework (not free points, very difficult), 30% midterm, and 40% final. Do not take her, just don't. TAs don't know what's happening.
The in class lecture slides are 2005 esque memes, whereas the homework and and exams are straight impossible unless you spend time teaching yourself the entire course.