I have only taken 3 courses at this university, but I can assure you that Chuck is and will forever be the worst professor that I have ever met. It isn't necessarily hard material but Chuck is so uninspiring that you will, for the first time in college, think about dropping out.
Prof. Akemann doesn't know how to teach. I took AP Calc in highschool, and although I didn't pass the AP test, I knew a lot of the material. The problem was that all the homework and tests were word problems, so setting up the problems were the hard part. He reads off of lecture slides and very vaugely answers students' questions. HWjust like test
Horrible lecturer but its ok to mess up on midterms bc your grade in class will never be lower than grade on final. I only went to class when there was a test. Lectures are useless, so sleep in! As long as you go to CLAS and do the HW, youll be fine.
This professor only read off of his slides. He made very poor explanations . He made the material harder to grasp than it had to be. Two weeks into class probably half of his students stopped showing up because it was just a waste of time. He has a curve on each homework assignment and each test . Go to CLAS.
Chuck doesn't explain anything during lectures and regularly gives 60-80 homework problems per week. The TA's don't even seem to understand half of the things he says. His explanations are extremely vague and he does not answer questions well. He's just not a good professor for entry-level calc for non-math majors.
Chuck is a nice guy but a terrible professor. Don't bother going to lectures, attend CLAS and Math Lab. The tests are about 8 questions that are mostly word problems. Honestly I would hold off and wait for another teacher though. VIVA La Cooper!
Prof Akemann is a nice guy with a weird sense of humor, but teaching is something he should not be doing. There is a TON of homework a week and it counts too much towards your grade not to do it. Tests are super short and mostly word problems. Skip lecture and use that time to do the homework, understand it, and go to CLAS!!
If you take this class you signing up for CLAS is a must!!!! My tutor was Lee DeAnda so if he's still teaching try to pick him, he's soo helpful. Also do the homework even though it's hell. And, again, good luck..
If you take his class I wish you luck. - go to tutoring - study groups - if you must take this class... just try very hard especially on the homework - lectures will put you to sleep/make you question why you took this class in the first place - tests are usually 8 questions 1 to 2 are equations and the rest are word problems
Do not take this class with this professor!!! This class is super easy, but he makes it so hard. The first week of school, he gave us 83 problems that had to be done by Friday. He does not teach well because all he does is make jokes and read directly off the presentation. This is a horrible class!
I've only done upper division with Chuck but he's awesome. Definitely gives tough HW, but he's super happy to help you through it. I learned a ton with him. He didn't just rewrite the textbook on the board which wasn't wonderful and refreshing. Instead the reading was on us, and we did interesting examples (prove or disprove) in class.
This was my 1st class at UCSB - very bad professor. Im surprised i got a decent grade because i got a C on my first midterm, F on the second midterm, and F on the final. BUT the CURVE!! also homework boost. Don't recommend this professor though, he's a sweet guy, but can't teach.
This was the worst class I've taken at UCSB. SO unnecessarily hard. You don't need to show up to lectures because he posts everything online and you'd fall asleep anyways. Weekly long homework.
I cannot stress how important the homework is. I had over a 100% on that, yet the tests killed me! Horrible professor, I basically had to learn on my own since I hadn't taken any calc classes prior to this one. Only good thing are the slides online because going to lecture seemed like a huge waste of time anyway. AVOID. I wish I had!!!!!!!
Just try and do ALL of the homework problems. Google questions if you need to or attend math lab and section! Never went to lecture because they didn't help at all. Midterm and final consisted of all HW questions. For my final grade I did 50% HW and 50% final, so my midterms didn't count. got A LOT of EXTRA CREDIT from HW! the book can help too!
Took 34A with him and received an A with a lot of studying. Took 34B and got an A+ with less work I put into 34A. I skipped all of his lectures. Just make sure you do the HW because it is big portion of grade and he pulls exact hw problems for the midterms and final. Overall, if you do the hw and understand each problem the class is an easy A
Often confusing during lecture. Exams are tough, but problems are straight from the homework so it's all stuff you've seen. If you can do the HW, you can do the exams. His grading breakdown at the end really helps you out. Textbook is useless; didn't crack it open once. Go to CLAS/CLAS drop-in, go to office hours. Get the help if you need it!
Expect homework, and actually UNDERSTAND the homework. If you understand the homework, you can do well on the exams. He'll pull exam problems STRAIGHT from the homework, but it'll often be THE hardest homework problems. Also, homework's worth at least 40% of your grade. Do it. Understand it. Kill the exams. He's also helpful during office hours!
Professor Akemann basically told his students not to attend lectures because his slides were posted online. Lectures were not helpful because he read off of the slides and when students had questions, he didn't answer them well. He assigned loads and loads of homework every week and most of the time, doesn't explain them. Tests were very tough too.
I took Chuck's 34A class and got a B. For 34B I went to most lectures and used his office hours every week. Chuck gets a bad rep, but he's actually a nice guy who will go out of his way to help you. This class had less hw and the tests were literally the same as hw problems just with different numbers. Ended the class with an A+ this time around.
DO NOT TAKE HIM. He only reads off the confusing slides and assigns on average 60 hw questions a week. He is condescending and always would compare our class of mostly B.S. students to the engineering students. His tests are extremely difficult. The only good thing is he puts the slides online so you don't have to go to class.
DONT TAKE THIS CLASS. Half of the time, he doesn't even know what he's teaching and he gets the answers wrong but expects us to get it right on the test. The studying for the test dont align with the actual test. I got a D.
The first two midterms for math 34a i did well on and werent too bad, I had a B plus average. Then the final came along and everyone, including myself, bombed it since it was so difficult! And for homework (which he gives TONS of by the way, and its not easy) I got a B on too, but he made the final out of so much that failing it made me get a D.
TERRIBLE professor. Reads right off of the slides and goes too quickly. When you ask a question he gives a vague answer and expects you to now understand b/c he "explained" it again. WORST PROF IN NORTH AMERICA.