She is very difficult, and her midterms are very hard. You have to memorize proofs and definitions as well as know how to apply the concepts learned. There is never any time to finish the midterm, but since the midterms are so hard, the curve is very low (around 60%). Also, if you decide to take Barbaro, make sure you get Josh as your TA. He's great! Overall, I don't think her teaching is terrible. I think she's better than Oberlin, and she's very nice.

Her homework problems were nothing like her exams.
Her practice exams were nothing like her exams.
What she teaches in class is convoluted and distorted in such a manner that you will not recognize the concepts on her exams.

She was the first professor I had at UCLA, and she has been, thus far, the worst professor I've had at UCLA.
Don't take her. Wait to take Math 3C with someone else, IT'S WORTH THE WAIT.

AVOID THIS WOMAN AT ALL COSTS! She is a horrible lecturer and she thinks she's soo good at explaining when all she really does is teach STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOOK. She GOES WAAY more in depth than the other professors, which is a bad thing especially since its probability and its very difficult. Her TESTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE. She made a test for our midterms that was over-the-top difficulty. If you mess up on one question, then your grade is finished and screwed. Also she told us not to read a certain section in the book, and then she put something from that section on the midterm! Apparently one other quarter, she made a question that was virtually unsolvable, and she STILL DOCKED POINTS off of her kid's scores! Shows you what a prick she is. She is unfriendly and not committed, offering office hours only at times during the day, when no one can attend. I've sent her 10 emails, SHE DIDN'T RESPOND ONCE!! The TAs are absolutely useless, but if your South campus I'm sure you're use to having shitty TAs. Simple solution: TAKE OBERLIN OR AVOID THIS WOMAN AT ALL COSTS. My friend in Oberlin's class gave me his test, and wow it was supper easyy.

The person below me is a complete LIAR. First of all, if you do only the book problems you will FAIL. You must find other problems on the internet. And also the material is NOT EASY, IT IS VERY HARD. Avoid this mean, stupid, unecessarily difficult professor. YOU ARE IN NO HURRY TO TAKE MATH 3C..YOU CAN STILL TAKE THE PHYSICS 6 SERIES WITHOUT 3C, CONTRARY TO COMMON BELIEF.

Effectiveness:
-sucks. She teaches straight out of the book and constantly makes mistakes on which students have to correct her
- she doesn't have mastery of the material she teaches and relies on students to figure things on her own
- you're screwed if you've never taken statistics
- just an annoyance of mine: her grating and nasally voice might make you hate the class more like it did with me

Difficulty:
- EFFING HARD.
- midterms: she's really stupid. First she makes a midterm with too many questions that nobody finishes, so her flawed rationale is to make a less-questioned second midterm with way more parts (a-f). Nobody finished that midterm either
- test questions are NOTHING like homework or lectures; they're harder and more conceptual (which she doesn't teach...)
- she expects you to memorize pages of theorems and expects you to understand how to do problems on top of spitting out theorems on the tests

Concern:
- what does leaving a class for Barcelona for a "math conference" a week before the final tell you?

Availability:
- office hours are BEFORE lecture, which start at 8am, so only the most hardcore people go to office hours (nobody)
- she never answers emails
- my friend's grades were wrong and it's been a month and she still hasn't responded to him

DO NOT TAKE HER. WAIT A QUARTER IF YOU HAVE TO. BELIEVE THESE BRUIN WALK EVALUATIONS

Barbaro was the most irresponsible professor I've had so far. A week before the final and she ditched us for Barcelona, leaving a subsitute professor to fill in, and the entire class seemed to be confused with what the sub was saying because Barbaro did not teach us the concept that we needed to know to understand the new concept that the sub was covering.
She is very unresponsive with emails too...I sent several emails to her and got 0 replies and I've heard similar stories from my friends who were in that class.
There was also this thing with the final. The night before the final, she finally decides which proofs we have to know and posts a practice final with no solutions...this is very helpful, eh?
With that said, the course material itself was not hard at all. More than half of the material we covered were concepts that either I knew already or can be though of if you just give it a little thought. It only got a little bit challenging during the last few weeks.
As for the definitions and proofs, yes, we have to memorize them, like the posters below me have said. But they are not too bad---you just have to memorize several proofs straight out from the textbook and add a little bit of explanation to it.
To get A in this class, just read the textbook...honestly, the material itself is very easy and her lecture is not worth going except for turning in HW but you can always ask your friends to do it for you.
As for her midterms and finals, we did not have enough time to finish the midterm because she made it so long, but we had a good curve. We had more than enough time for the final, but I had trouble understanding what the questions were saying.
I suppose taking this class with Barbaro is not the best thing to do. I think Oberlin is more effective. But if you are good with self-study, you will probably do well in this class because most of the people only depend on the lecture and does not read the textbook, and textbook teaches you better.
I got an average score for the first midterm, top 4% on the second midterm, and top 3% for the final in the class and ended up with an A.

Overall as a person, Barbaro appears as one of those rare teachers who actually seem concern overall for her class. stopping once in a while asking for any confusion and answering any question as best of her ability. Unfortunately, her genuine concern for her student knowledge is horrible out balance by her vicious test making nature. I can honestly say her math exams or in general her exam by itself were the hardest exams I have taken up to this point in my life. AP exams and chemistry exams in UCLA had nothing on her. The time pressure, multilayer question format, and sheer need to understand every single detail of the subject to be able to complete the questions has warrant a red flag. The red flag for all future barbaro victims to proceed cautiously into her layer. You will need to memorize almost every single point less theorem in the textbook. Be able to understand and manipulate concepts discuss in the book to solve her problems, but most importantly be able to communicate your actions on paper by writing. She repeatably stated she wants a reason or explanation for why you did what you did on the exam. Failure to comply results in point loss. This is a class YOU WILL HAVE TO WORK to think of receiving a good grade. This class is challenging and I wish you all good luck who ever takes up her math challenge. Well to end on the plus side she counts homework as part of grading system, and it is just a check mark if you did it or not. So do it and you get credit.

I took pic10B. W/ this professor. Indeed, I guess she's the only professor who NEVER responses to students email. She is so irresponsible.
Please avoid taking her class! If you can't you will need to study very hard on your own. Going to her lectures is a joke - useless and time wasting.
But you still need to go to her class.Why? Because she never posted the study materials to the class website on time. The only way you can keep in touch with the class is going to the lecture to see if she makes any adjustments to the exam or assignment. Also, never trust her. She always promised to upload the exam study outline, but end up posting the outline few hours before the exam. Many students did not know she actually posted the outline until they finished the exam. What a nice professor!huh?

I really don't understand where all the hate in these reviews here is coming from... Yeah, her exams are pretty difficult, but she's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

She'd go out of her way to help a student who needs it. I think she's leaving for a different university this Summer and it's too bad, she really was awesome.

the WORST professor ever.

Bitch is hard but she can't even teach. She is also stupid and makes her exams really hard. She is NOT GENEROUS with grading.

If you find Alethea Barbaro ON FACEBOOK, you will see the wierdest pictures of her in her profile pictures ever. And you will ask yourself: How is this bitch a professor?

No wonder China and India kick our ass in the sciences. We've got dumb fat ugly stupid bitches like this teaching math. This bitch needs to teach LESBO studies or some shit like that.

SHE HAS THE LEGS OF A FREAKIN REDWOOD TREE TRUNK LOL.

SHE IS A BITCH