Jeremy Wu
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Teaching Style/Lecture: Professor Wu is a brand new teacher and he simply doesn't know how to teach. He's super qualified in the math field and is definitely a smart guy, but he genuinely made this basic calculus class way too hard and confusing. If you haven't taken AP Calculus AB I can see this class being extremely difficult to follow. The material is easy to learn with other online resources like Khan Academy, but the issue is that his midterms and final are solely based on lecture problems and homework problems, so you have to attend lecture or watch lecture (since they're recorded). He made easy topics way too confusing, he moved super fast, and he didn't always finish his own example problems. Oftentimes, he'd tell us to just reference his notes (which can be found on the Canvas site) because he always ran out of time. Also, I'm pretty sure the examples he did were just found in the book, but he didn't even explain them well and he had really particular ways of doing it. If he didn't have his notes to glance at, sometimes he'd even get stuck doing his own problems.
Homework: The homework is super manageable and he pulls his test questions pretty much directly from them or from lectures. But, he never does examples in class quite like the homework, and you never get an answer key for them. He gave us extra practice problems too, but without answer keys, it's hard to check if you're really doing it right. Also at the beginning of the quarter, nobody knew if the homework was graded on completion or correctness (it was correctness).
Tests: We never got notes, flashcards, etc. even when the other Math 31A classes got them. He's also super vague when it comes to what to expect on the midterms and final. The first midterm was graded out of 100 but you could get up to 160 points, so you had 60 to spare. But the second midterm was graded on only 2 out of the 5 problems on the test, without any extra points this time. It was super random and the class average for the second midterm was a high D but he said that getting a C is really good in his class, even though most people got 100 on the first midterm (which makes no sense to me). The final had questions we had already seen on each of the midterms, and it barely tested us on the entire second half of the course (integrals and FTC).
Office Hours/TAs: His office hours were not helpful at all and only made me more confused. They were held in this little room where people sat on the floor, and some people had to stand outside the door simply because there was no room (where you couldn't even see). His class was so confusing and he communicated poorly with the TAs too. I loved my TA though, he was so helpful (until the strike occurred so we stopped getting help) but the TAs never knew what the midterms would look like and they didn't really know what we were learning in class.
Overall: I'm usually super good at math and I've taken this course before, but it was taught in a way that made it more difficult than it should've been. This class itself shouldn't be hard, but I definitely don't feel prepared for 31B. In the end, I don't know how he graded the final or whether this class was curved (because he said it might be). He also never responded to 3 emails I sent him. If I didn't get an A I think I would've been far more frustrated, I'm just glad I passed. I think he knew so many kids were frustrated and kind of handed out As at the end.
If you have the option to take another professor for 31A, please do it. I switched majors because this class made me hate math so much. He teaches his lectures quite literally at the speed of light and pauses for 0.0001 seconds when asked if we have questions. I went to every 8 am lecture and tried my best to understand the content. I did decent on the homework and the midterm but badly on the final so my grade plummeted. His exams are entirely based on the homework, practice exams, and lecture questions, and even tells you exactly where he gets them from, so I would recommend looking at those in preparation for the exam. Make sure to listen at the beginning of the course, because if not, you will be really confused by the end. Office hours were helpful but extremely crowded. He's a really nice guy but the class was so poorly taught and I would recommend you take another professor for 31A if you have the chance, especially if you are not great at math. If you are naturally good at math, though, and willing to teach yourself a large portion of the content if needed, then taking him would be fine for you.
As someone who had not taken any calc classes in high school, this course was EXTREMELY difficult for me. Wu's style of teaching was 10% explaining and 90% rushing through practice problems. He records his lectures and I found that watching them at your own pace was more beneficial than being in class.
The tests consisted of the hardest problems possible taken from worksheets. Wu lets you have a cheat sheet on the MT/final so I would recommend that you just shove in as many HW/class problems as possible on the sheet. He doesn't curve most exams despite students doing terrible on them. I will admit I could have put more effort in the class, however, I found it not worth my time/frustration and I would recommend avoiding Wu as a professor.
I thought Professor Wu was great! His lectures weren't too hard to follow as they were super practical and they were recorded so I could always rewatch if I missed something. Also tests were given curves, so failing shouldn't be that big of a worry.
I was very frustrated with the fact that I had friends who completed 31A just a quarter before me and genuinely had no clue how to even help me with my 31A homework. The problems were very complex and reaching out for help from people in 32B they had no clue to how to go about solving these insanely niche and complex problems for the course. None of the further-level math builds upon any of these complex questions he would give us.
There was no textbook. The class consisted of one homework assignment each week, 2 midterms, and a final. Professor Wu was adaptable and did a lot of examples in class. He also would go over homework questions in office hours. The midterm and final questions were based on the homework. It was very easy for people who had taken calculus before, and still manageable for those who did not take calculus in high school (as I hadn't).
I really loved 131A with Professor Wu! He is an amazing professor, during lecture he used many colored chalks and helped build intuition for the harder concepts. He also always provided midterm/final reviews and during office hours he was very approachable and helpful. Although the class is one of the hardest math courses, this class really helped me build strong foundations in proof writing and core concepts I still use. It was overall a very rewarding class, so if you have the option to take 131A with Wu, I highly recommend. You will learn a lot and are in good hands :)
Professor Wu's lecturing style was a bit rough at the beginning of the quarter, but he did have an anonymous Google Form where he accepted feedback from students about this particular class. I highly, HIGHLY suggest going to Professor Wu's office hours. At least for our quarter, he did not shy away from answering homework problems directly from the sheets he has given us. His office hours is the perfect way to ask for help and they helped me personally get better at understanding his style of midterms. For the midterms, he didn't allow us to use a "cheat" sheet but on the final we were allowed one piece of paper for reference. All of the questions on the tests are directly from the lecture notes, lecture examples, and homework sheets. I highly recommend doing the extra hw problems that are not required because those tend to show up on the exams. Overall, the grading scheme is pretty fair. If you were stuck with this professor as your last resort, you should be fine. He improves as the class progresses. You can definitely tell he knows what he is teaching based on how often he emphasizes examples and theorems. If you've taken Calculus AB before, this class should be review. If you haven't, I can totally see where this class can seem confusing. Just go to office hours. They are the best.
Not sure why Wu has so many negative reviews. I think his class was great! He may need some improvement in the teaching department, but he’s a really nice teacher and friendly overall.
Regarding his teaching and lecture, he’s thorough and very formal; he doesn’t give a lot of shortcuts. He’s easy to ask for clarification in lecture, though. For lecture, he posts the entirety of his notes. To do well in the class, I recommend going over these, especially since the examples there are often referenced on the midterm and final. If you’re lucky, you’ll recognize a problem from this (or homework) and the tests will be easy.
Speaking of homework, he assigns a few (2-3) required problems, but many other optional questions. You should do the optional questions to do well on the midterm and final. Homework is worth around a quarter of your grade. If you have any questions about the homework you can ask on Piazza, and he usually responds pretty quickly. The TA’s such as Chang give the homework solutions for most of them. Wu doesn’t give solutions for the homework.
He doesn’t have tests and quizzes, only two midterms and a final. For these, they’re composed entirely from the questions of homework and lecture notes. The midterms and final are cumulative.
For grading, he grades to your benefit. There are two grading schemes, and he will choose the one that results in the highest grade for you.
In sum, I would recommend this teacher if you’re willing to work hard.
This was one of the hardest classes I have taken. I did not take AP Calc in high school and I think that was part of my downfall. The professor made the simplest things the most confusing and even those who I knew who did take AP Calc were struggling. The midterms and finals are all questions that were on the homework, which means for every single problem sheet you have to answer every single question without a real answer key. Jeremy Wu never gave an answer sheet to the entire homeworks, but William Chang was amazing and used his free-time to make his own answer sheet. Of course without a real answer sheet from the professor, the hardest questions from these sheets were always on the tests. The final was good because he allowed us a notebook paper sized cheat sheet, but of course he used the hardest questions from homeworks and lectures. The only thing that saved my grade was the fact that we were allowed to drop our lowest midterm which meant the final had to be graded at a higher weight. Make sure you actually go to lectures because its not the same as the recorded ones he posts, and make sure you review the lecture problem examples and do every single homework problem to be successful.
Teaching Style/Lecture: Professor Wu is a brand new teacher and he simply doesn't know how to teach. He's super qualified in the math field and is definitely a smart guy, but he genuinely made this basic calculus class way too hard and confusing. If you haven't taken AP Calculus AB I can see this class being extremely difficult to follow. The material is easy to learn with other online resources like Khan Academy, but the issue is that his midterms and final are solely based on lecture problems and homework problems, so you have to attend lecture or watch lecture (since they're recorded). He made easy topics way too confusing, he moved super fast, and he didn't always finish his own example problems. Oftentimes, he'd tell us to just reference his notes (which can be found on the Canvas site) because he always ran out of time. Also, I'm pretty sure the examples he did were just found in the book, but he didn't even explain them well and he had really particular ways of doing it. If he didn't have his notes to glance at, sometimes he'd even get stuck doing his own problems.
Homework: The homework is super manageable and he pulls his test questions pretty much directly from them or from lectures. But, he never does examples in class quite like the homework, and you never get an answer key for them. He gave us extra practice problems too, but without answer keys, it's hard to check if you're really doing it right. Also at the beginning of the quarter, nobody knew if the homework was graded on completion or correctness (it was correctness).
Tests: We never got notes, flashcards, etc. even when the other Math 31A classes got them. He's also super vague when it comes to what to expect on the midterms and final. The first midterm was graded out of 100 but you could get up to 160 points, so you had 60 to spare. But the second midterm was graded on only 2 out of the 5 problems on the test, without any extra points this time. It was super random and the class average for the second midterm was a high D but he said that getting a C is really good in his class, even though most people got 100 on the first midterm (which makes no sense to me). The final had questions we had already seen on each of the midterms, and it barely tested us on the entire second half of the course (integrals and FTC).
Office Hours/TAs: His office hours were not helpful at all and only made me more confused. They were held in this little room where people sat on the floor, and some people had to stand outside the door simply because there was no room (where you couldn't even see). His class was so confusing and he communicated poorly with the TAs too. I loved my TA though, he was so helpful (until the strike occurred so we stopped getting help) but the TAs never knew what the midterms would look like and they didn't really know what we were learning in class.
Overall: I'm usually super good at math and I've taken this course before, but it was taught in a way that made it more difficult than it should've been. This class itself shouldn't be hard, but I definitely don't feel prepared for 31B. In the end, I don't know how he graded the final or whether this class was curved (because he said it might be). He also never responded to 3 emails I sent him. If I didn't get an A I think I would've been far more frustrated, I'm just glad I passed. I think he knew so many kids were frustrated and kind of handed out As at the end.
If you have the option to take another professor for 31A, please do it. I switched majors because this class made me hate math so much. He teaches his lectures quite literally at the speed of light and pauses for 0.0001 seconds when asked if we have questions. I went to every 8 am lecture and tried my best to understand the content. I did decent on the homework and the midterm but badly on the final so my grade plummeted. His exams are entirely based on the homework, practice exams, and lecture questions, and even tells you exactly where he gets them from, so I would recommend looking at those in preparation for the exam. Make sure to listen at the beginning of the course, because if not, you will be really confused by the end. Office hours were helpful but extremely crowded. He's a really nice guy but the class was so poorly taught and I would recommend you take another professor for 31A if you have the chance, especially if you are not great at math. If you are naturally good at math, though, and willing to teach yourself a large portion of the content if needed, then taking him would be fine for you.
As someone who had not taken any calc classes in high school, this course was EXTREMELY difficult for me. Wu's style of teaching was 10% explaining and 90% rushing through practice problems. He records his lectures and I found that watching them at your own pace was more beneficial than being in class.
The tests consisted of the hardest problems possible taken from worksheets. Wu lets you have a cheat sheet on the MT/final so I would recommend that you just shove in as many HW/class problems as possible on the sheet. He doesn't curve most exams despite students doing terrible on them. I will admit I could have put more effort in the class, however, I found it not worth my time/frustration and I would recommend avoiding Wu as a professor.
I thought Professor Wu was great! His lectures weren't too hard to follow as they were super practical and they were recorded so I could always rewatch if I missed something. Also tests were given curves, so failing shouldn't be that big of a worry.
I was very frustrated with the fact that I had friends who completed 31A just a quarter before me and genuinely had no clue how to even help me with my 31A homework. The problems were very complex and reaching out for help from people in 32B they had no clue to how to go about solving these insanely niche and complex problems for the course. None of the further-level math builds upon any of these complex questions he would give us.
There was no textbook. The class consisted of one homework assignment each week, 2 midterms, and a final. Professor Wu was adaptable and did a lot of examples in class. He also would go over homework questions in office hours. The midterm and final questions were based on the homework. It was very easy for people who had taken calculus before, and still manageable for those who did not take calculus in high school (as I hadn't).
I really loved 131A with Professor Wu! He is an amazing professor, during lecture he used many colored chalks and helped build intuition for the harder concepts. He also always provided midterm/final reviews and during office hours he was very approachable and helpful. Although the class is one of the hardest math courses, this class really helped me build strong foundations in proof writing and core concepts I still use. It was overall a very rewarding class, so if you have the option to take 131A with Wu, I highly recommend. You will learn a lot and are in good hands :)
Professor Wu's lecturing style was a bit rough at the beginning of the quarter, but he did have an anonymous Google Form where he accepted feedback from students about this particular class. I highly, HIGHLY suggest going to Professor Wu's office hours. At least for our quarter, he did not shy away from answering homework problems directly from the sheets he has given us. His office hours is the perfect way to ask for help and they helped me personally get better at understanding his style of midterms. For the midterms, he didn't allow us to use a "cheat" sheet but on the final we were allowed one piece of paper for reference. All of the questions on the tests are directly from the lecture notes, lecture examples, and homework sheets. I highly recommend doing the extra hw problems that are not required because those tend to show up on the exams. Overall, the grading scheme is pretty fair. If you were stuck with this professor as your last resort, you should be fine. He improves as the class progresses. You can definitely tell he knows what he is teaching based on how often he emphasizes examples and theorems. If you've taken Calculus AB before, this class should be review. If you haven't, I can totally see where this class can seem confusing. Just go to office hours. They are the best.
Not sure why Wu has so many negative reviews. I think his class was great! He may need some improvement in the teaching department, but he’s a really nice teacher and friendly overall.
Regarding his teaching and lecture, he’s thorough and very formal; he doesn’t give a lot of shortcuts. He’s easy to ask for clarification in lecture, though. For lecture, he posts the entirety of his notes. To do well in the class, I recommend going over these, especially since the examples there are often referenced on the midterm and final. If you’re lucky, you’ll recognize a problem from this (or homework) and the tests will be easy.
Speaking of homework, he assigns a few (2-3) required problems, but many other optional questions. You should do the optional questions to do well on the midterm and final. Homework is worth around a quarter of your grade. If you have any questions about the homework you can ask on Piazza, and he usually responds pretty quickly. The TA’s such as Chang give the homework solutions for most of them. Wu doesn’t give solutions for the homework.
He doesn’t have tests and quizzes, only two midterms and a final. For these, they’re composed entirely from the questions of homework and lecture notes. The midterms and final are cumulative.
For grading, he grades to your benefit. There are two grading schemes, and he will choose the one that results in the highest grade for you.
In sum, I would recommend this teacher if you’re willing to work hard.
This was one of the hardest classes I have taken. I did not take AP Calc in high school and I think that was part of my downfall. The professor made the simplest things the most confusing and even those who I knew who did take AP Calc were struggling. The midterms and finals are all questions that were on the homework, which means for every single problem sheet you have to answer every single question without a real answer key. Jeremy Wu never gave an answer sheet to the entire homeworks, but William Chang was amazing and used his free-time to make his own answer sheet. Of course without a real answer sheet from the professor, the hardest questions from these sheets were always on the tests. The final was good because he allowed us a notebook paper sized cheat sheet, but of course he used the hardest questions from homeworks and lectures. The only thing that saved my grade was the fact that we were allowed to drop our lowest midterm which meant the final had to be graded at a higher weight. Make sure you actually go to lectures because its not the same as the recorded ones he posts, and make sure you review the lecture problem examples and do every single homework problem to be successful.