BEST PROFESSOR - Had a very similar experience with Fumiaki in 32A. He has engaging lectures and the tests are very straightforward (especially the midterms). The final was a little tricky and took me all 3 hours, but it was still doable. Don't get overconfident before any tests and do all the homework and you should get an A. Discussion work is mandatory.

Overall, 32B with Professor Varvarezos was certainly an interesting experience to say the least - as I probably should have expected considering he's a brand new instructor.

All said and done, Professor Varvarezos as a person generally did an adequate job - for a first-time lecturer at least. He definitely could have been a lot worse, though I will say that he without a doubt has a great amount of room to improve. In terms of clarity, some of his explanations of the concepts in class were just bizarre and incoherent, which led me to attend office hours frequently, where he usually was fairly responsive and able to articulate himself a bit better. Continuing on the topic of accessibility, he also set up a Piazza chat for the class to ask him questions online, though his responsiveness on that platform was questionable to say the least.

My biggest gripe with Varvarezos definitely related to his structuring of some assignments. He openly admitted on at least one occasion that he just straight up didn't even read through the weekly homework questions all the way before assigning them, which led to a lot of needless confusion when certain assigned prompts covered topics we hadn't mentioned in class. Needless to say, this was a completely unacceptable oversight that he might just get a pass on only because he's a brand new teacher. I hope he rectifies this mistake quickly.

In terms of the other aspects of the class, both of the midterms were quite straightforward with generous time limits given to complete them in (two hours instead of the usual fifty minutes), but the final was significantly elevated in difficulty (likely because the class instructing team realized the average grade was a bit too inflated). Discussion sections were generally pretty uneventful.

To be totally honest, I just really disliked the actual material that the course focused on, so this class became more of a slog as the quarter went on. Varvarezos has much work to do in order to become a solid teacher, but I feel like he definitely has the potential to grow into the role with time.

highkey top g, nice af, really good lecturer and recorded, tests are literal cake, absolute dub of a class and u actually learn stuff

Really good glass. The homework was very manageable and had a lenient late policy. The exams were reasonable. The lectures were also recorded, but I usually went to them in-person since they were very engaging helpful. Would highly recommend taking Varvarezos if you can

I loved Professor Varvarezos! Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I actually liked 131B a lot more than 131A, cause I feel like even though the concepts become more abstract you actually prove a lot more of them completely so if you follow along, things click into place.

Professor Varvarezos goes materials in a slow-paced but explicit manner. The exams are getting harder as the course proceed, but the examinable contents are consistent with what covered in the class. The workload is relatively light, but be cautionary about the practice test problems as they could be testing in a trickier way.

This review must be nuanced.

I hate how discompassionate the professor is.

His grading is harsh and often awarded generous penalties for simple mistakes; this affected both homework and exam grades. He also doesn't expand enough in solutions for practice and homework questions, so you may feel lost on some problems if you don't make an appearance in his office hours.

That said, he is an extremely good lecturer. He also had a hilarious fight with another professor once. His review questions are solid. Overall, he is not the worst and not the best.

I enjoyed the content of this course, and I thought the course was well-organized and enjoyable overall. Lectures were a bit dry, and the professor seemed unconfident (despite rarely making any actual mistakes). However, they were clear and easy to follow as well. I enjoyed the homework, and thought exams were fair. I would have enjoyed it if the class were a bit less computational and a bit more proof based.