Professor Menz is pretty nice and seems to care about his students alot, but the class itself was a bit of a mess because there was literally no syllabus, which I think is the main issue of the class. Because of that, the grading scheme, outline of what material would be covered, etc. was not very clear.

Lectures were also a bit all over the place. It was hard to follow along with the content being covered because of how he structured his notes, and I feel like I didn't actually learn much at the end of the class. Also, the lectures never really related that much with the homework/final project.

Personally I didn't find the homework or project to be too difficult and thought the grading was pretty generous, but I do have experience with coding in Python and I think that helped alot. If you're a Data Theory major, I'd suggest taking Stats 20/21 first if you can if you're taking it with Menz, as I felt like the homeworks were alot easier to do in Jupyter Notebooks/R Markdown.

Basically, if you're taking this class I'd maybe recommend going with someone else. But if you're stuck with Menz (as I think only one professor teaches this class each quarter), it's not the end of the world- just focus on doing well on the homeworks and project.

While Menz seems like a really nice guy, this class needs some serious work. The class was graded, I believe 80% Homeworks / 20% Group Final Project. I say 'I believe' because we were never given a syllabus or any clear description of the general grading of the class or the final project. The homework was doable (with the TA's code skeletons) but it took an ungodly amount of time. They also had us use MatLab but never taught us practically anything about the tool. Lectures were mostly the professor highlighting the required textbook which made lectures often feel quite pointless. I was very hesitant about a group project amidst Covid times but it worked out for me, but I do believe I was lucky. Depending on your group, it could go pretty well or absolutely horribly. Looking back on the quarter, I don't really feel I gained much from the class but was left unscathed grade-wise. The advice I would give to someone taking the class would be to get started on the homework early and take advantage of the TA's office hours and discussion.

I had a class with this person and otherwise. He will take advantage of people. He is also flakey and has a hard time following through with things. Likely someone who was raised to believe they were blameless. If you are working with him, make sure there is a clear plan and expectations laid out, so you are not taken advantage of. In fact, you're probably better off to stay away from this person altogether. I wish I could say more.

This is for 170B. Menz is a nice guy and very helpful, but the way he explains things during lecture is incredibly frustrating and roundabout. He over-complicates simple examples and spends entire classes going through derivations that do not aid students' intuition of the formula at all. I think a mean of 46% on the final should speak for itself. No one got higher than a 76% and despite doing about average on both midterms and scoring in the top third of the class on the brutal final, I only got a B. Overall, he expects too much from his students and curves harshly, but does not have the proper style for teaching undergraduates.

I think the professor is nice, and I heard that the prof and the TA are helpful during OHs if you ask things about HW (I never attend OH, but I think I got a fairly decent score on HW anyway). The lectures and the instructions given for the final project are not clear enough. Not sure how to succeed (i.e. get an A) in this class, but I would say try your best in the final project and contribute your efforts to it so that at least you won't regret you didn't even try. HW is doable, but it is time-consuming.

What can I say. Worst class at UCLA.

It may sound mean, but professor Menz is very irresponsible.
-- He did not give a clear syllabus.
-- At some weeks, he posted the lecture a WEEK later.
-- Grades are coming out really slow, so it is hard to keep track of what you have been doing in this course. In fact, HW5-9 's grades are coming out at the same time in week 10.

I am not sure if professor Menz even cares about his teaching. From the beginning to the end, I feel lost in this course.