Math 31A has definitely been one of the toughest classes I have taken so far. Brizolis was a great professor and I would DEFINITELY take advantage of office hours because that is where he is the most helpful. However, his tests are extremely hard and even though I took calc AB in high school and enjoy math, I found this class to be challenging. He says he doesn't curve but the average of both our midterms were around 65% but almost everyone got a B- or above so he definitely ended up curving.

Professor Brizolis is not a bad teacher or lecturer. His lectures were mostly about proofs but he eventually got to stuff we needed to know, or so I thought. There is homework due every lecture, but is manageable. He was helpful in his office hours and gave practice tests and past exams for the final and midterms (which you will rush with only 50 minutes given) . However, the final is very hard (at least a lot harder that exams he gave us to practice). I think only one person left the hall earlier than the three hours we had. The average was about 68% (beware that he says there is no curve for his class) and your grade had little to do with your ability to do calculus. Your grade on this class will mostly depend on your math background on arithmetic and algebra. Your overall grade will depend on your high school math background, even Brizolis says so. He also said that the final gets harder every year. I don't know if it was a joke but, personally, I wouldn't take the risk.

In all honesty, Calc I isn't too difficult of a subject, but with Brizolis... it's another story. I took calc BC in high school and did really well, but this class was an eye opener because of the insane amount of accuracy you need with the algebra to get a solid grade. His tests use really ugly numbers (with stuff like cubed roots) that you're expected to plug back into equations, and problems more than often took up nearly the whole page, so I felt like this class was more of an advanced algebra class than a calculus class. So if you're clean, organized, FAST, and ORGANIZED with computations, you won't have a problem with this class. Since basically everyone taking this class is a freshman, I can definitely assure you that it IS super fast paced like people say with the quarter system, and if you didn't take calculus back in high school, you will probably be screwed. I mean I guess his first midterm was pretty easy, but then it gets progressively harder, and by the final, you'll wanna cry low key.

On the other hand, Brizolis teaches you all the concepts you need to know to succeed, it's just that you need to be solid with algebra on top of those calc concepts to actually succeed. Also don't get discouraged by the delta epsilon proof in the first lecture, that's like the only different thing you'll learn that's different from AP calculus. And I will say that his related rates and optimization problems on his tests are WAY easier than the ones from AP, since he narrows it down to like 3 different types. But with that being said, the main reason why this quarter's students got screwed over was because we had an ellipse for a cross section volume question AND optimization question , which he never showed as examples in class.

So yea, as a math major, this was ideally supposed to be an ez A, but after the insanity of this class, i am beyond grateful I pulled off a B+. Thank you father Brizolis and ucla for teaching me to stop being obsessed with perfection, papa bless

If you took calculus in high school, this should be a relatively easy class. For the most part, he tells you exactly what will be on the midterms and often goes over important problems the lecture before tests. He likes using tricky numbers on tests so having solid algebra is super important. Also like what others said, he goes over proofs A LOT. You can zone out during these if you want.

For some reason, he made the final really different from the practice ones and therefore more difficult this year. He included several problems that we never worked on in class or homework at all (surprising since the midterms were so similar to the practice ones), so you had to apply the concept to the particular problem. Not hard if you're good at math, but I know a lot of people who really struggled with the final.

I breezed through AP calculus in high school with a solid A, so I expected this class to be manageable. However, it was not. Brizolis 31A is IMPOSSIBLE. I do not recommend taking it, even if he is the only professor available for the given quarter. I have seen multiple comments in which he fairly curved when the entire class did poorly, however that was not the case for us this quarter AT ALL. The final was beyond impossible, I did not see a single student in my entire class hand it in before the time was up. The class average was a D on the final test, and he refused to curve!!! Many of my friends and I have had to rework our entire schedule due to this unexpected issue. In short, this was NOT a fair class by any means, and I do not advise taking it unless you are truly gifted with mathematics.

He's goes extremely fast and gives very difficult exams (especially the final) but he tries his best to help students out and is overall a decent teacher. His practice midterms are very similar to the tests and he will answer any questions you have. Don't be scared away by other negative reviews. He's fine.

I'm a math major and I took two years of calculus in high school and cruised A's both years, so i enrolled in this class thinking it would be an easy A for someone who already knows limits/derivatives/integrals etc. I understood all of the lectures and homework, and then the midterm was the most ridiculous bullshit questions i had never seen anything like before in my life. I went to office hours to go over complicated homework problems, but even his practice mid terms are no comparison to the exams that make you want to cry a little. Everyone took the entire class time for the mid terms and the full three hours writing furiously for the final. His lectures give limited examples, long-winded proofs that we don't need to know, complicated roundabout definitions, and no real step-by-step structure as to how to even approach problems.
I mostly relied on my prior knowledge and some youtube videos for things like optimization and more advanced integrals. If you've never taken a calc class before this, don't waste your time.

Also don't buy the textbook, it's online in a pdf.

This class is for the brave, the savage math gods, or people like me who needed to be humbled and rethink their major.

Brizolis's lectures are extremely fast-paced and often unclear. He mostly teaches through doing proofs which he outright tells you you don't need for exams and are completely unhelpful in learning the fundamentals of calculus concepts. While some kids may be interested in proofs, the majority of us are there to pass a pre-req for other classes and it would be more meaningful to actually learn the material at hand rather than wasting the short amount of class time we have on irrelevant proofs. His first midterm is not overly challenging, but there is a time crunch for all his exams. The second midterm is much harder, but definitely doable. As for the final, brace yourself. It was horrible, mainly because 3/10 questions (approx. 30 pts) were on concepts he did not even COVER in class or on homework assignments, and the rest of it was frankly just really hard too, filled with random algebraic concepts that have nothing to do with calculus. The class average was extremely low, and he refused to curve. Many people had to retake the class the following quarter, which is unfair because it wasn't a fair reflection of their calculus knowledge, rather just a reflection of a poor professor.

As a student who took Calculus AB, I have to say that his class is significantly more challenging. His first midterm was pretty cake, but the final was on some other level. He gave us his previous final exams to prepare, but the final he gave us was far more difficult. If you're more concerned about learning the material well, Brizolis is a fantastic professor. He explains the concepts clearly and effectively. I would recommend this professor for his effectiveness.

like everyone else, i too got dicked by the final. despite that, i think taking the class with brizzy helped me establish a solid foundation for math here. i found both 31b and 32a to be easier than 31a. if u care more about learning than ur gpa, id suggest taking this class over easier alternatives.