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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Prof Ponce has a thick accent that can be hard to understand (especially if you are new to linear algebra and its vocab), and his handwriting is sloppy cursive. He gives 20 hw problems a week, however, lectures are often too concept-based or unrelated so you'll find you'll assistance understanding the problem types. The final is 50% of your grade.

Despite the efforts of the TA's and the Math Lab, myself and a lot of my peers struggled very hard in this class. The lecture's are hard to follow and the handwriting is very bad. Broad concepts that are critical for this course are not explained at all, only dense math material. The tests so far are fair, but if you fall behind you're toast.

Went to 1 lecture and then just went to CLAS 2x a week. He was just looking at another professor's slides and figuring it out as he went along. Terrible lecture. The 2 midterms were online and the tests were the same for the entire class. I haven't taken the final yet and it is 50% of your grade (and you need at least 50% to pass the class)

Horrible professor, hard to understand, terrible handwriting, and lectures are dense and often hard to understand. 2 Midterms and a Final worth 50% of your grade, only take if you have to, otherwise avoid

legend. One of the best for upper divs.

Terrible class; professor refused to follow a textbook, he just said we can use any book but none of them were relevant. Homeworks were unrelated to lecture. He kept saying we haven't learned anything difficult so homework and exams should be easy; take his class if you want to be called stupid on a regular basis I guess.

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.

- easy exams - really good lecturing style. Happy to slow down or re-explain - will straight up do some homework problems during office hours - there was a textbook for the class but he didn't teach or assign homework from it

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

DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASSES. He is difficult to understand, writes lecture slides as he goes, always sounds annoyed. One time I asked a question in class, he talked down on me for asking a dumb question. Had to buy a $100 homework system I only used for that quarter. Material was hard but he looks like he doesn't care about his students.

i will never take his class! I even don't know what he is saying at class that one day I heard "cilo" which I don't know what it is . after half of the class I noticed that he said is "zero".... bad professor

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.