Gannon is a really, really great professor. I took him during his first quarter at UCLA, but it's clear that he is excellent at teaching and seems to enjoy it as well. He's very willing to clarify concepts during lecture and office hours, and his lectures are well-structured and clear. He gave 2 midterms and a final, all 24 hours, with a mix of computational and conceptual questions--all of which were very reasonable. Homework was assigned weekly (sans midterm weeks), consisting of 15-20 questions each, of which you only had to submit 6-8 for grading. I highly recommend taking 31B with Gannon and would definitely take him again.

I took this class online because of the pandemic. The professor was friendly and easy to understand in lectures. There were two midterms and one final. Lowest homework grade is dropped. Test questions were hard, but with the 24 hour exam policy, scores were high. Lots of test questions were similar to questions from the lecture and textbook. That being said, I don't think anyone could possibly finish the exams within their intended time limit. If I had to take this class again I would definitely choose the same professor.

Professor Gannon is my absolute favorite professor in my 2 years at UCLA. Words cannot describe how much I wish I could take every class with him.

Gannon made me feel like I was attending a little “fireside chat” in every lecture. The lecturing environment was supremely chill and relaxed compared to every other math class I’ve been in. You can tell that Gannon keeps his students engaged and gives them the intrinsic motivation to learn math. It’s just his charm.

Homework assignments were rather difficult compared to other math classes I’ve been in. There was one particular problem on an assignment that took me 8 hours to figure out. To be sure, though, that problem was an outlier. A few problems on each assignment are graded for accuracy, while the rest are graded for completion. He also gives extra practice problems on each assignment, and I highly recommend you do them. I probably spent an average of 8 hours on each assignment.

Homework assignments are designed to be harder than exams.

The exams in this class were fair but hard. Gannon finds ways to interconnect multiple concepts we learned in single problems. It is essential that you remember every theorem in class and pay attention to how the material from one lecture may connect to material from the others.

I leave this class feeling like I learned a lot and confident in what I learned.

Grading (there were 8 homework assignments in total):

20% Homework (Best 7 scores); 25% Midterm 1; 25% Midterm 2; 30% Final exam
or
20% Homework (Best 7 scores); 35% Best midterm score; 45% Final exam

And in case you were wondering, his beard is as luscious as it appears in his profile pic, perhaps even more. What a stud.

Gannon was a wonderful professor and gave a great start to my first quarter here at UCLA. Gannon's lectures were clear and he is always willing to help and take questions. Homework load was pretty light and I found his tests pretty fair and easy though that might be because we had 24 hours for exams. His tests are 50/50 computational and conceptual questions so you have to actually understand the material rather than just know how to solve them. But all and all, I would highly recommend taking Gannon for this class and I would love to take another math class with him.

Professor Gannon is a very nice individual, and it's clear to see he truly loves math and teaching it. He was very understanding and flexible with the COVID-19 situation. The workload appropriate. I'd suggest reading the textbook before each lecture as he does follow it pretty closely and it also helps to understand what you're learning. Definitely do the homework and its corresponding practice problems, as some are occasionally recycled in the tests. The tests are more difficult when it comes to the true and false questions as well as more conceptual questions (this is where reading the textbook comes in handy). Overall, I'd recommend this class as it was very enjoyable.

The BEST professor I can have for 131A at UCLA!!!

When I tell you the math is the bane of my existence. I was a little worried going into this class just because math is not my strongest area of study but it was actually a great experience. It was his first quarter at UCLA but like I kid you not, it did not seem like he was new to any of this. During his lectures, I was actually enjoying the lectures because he of how clear everything was and how he taught. I could understand most things on the first attempt which actually surprised me because it usually takes a little more time for things to click. He would provide definitions, examples, proofs, theorems, and much more during each lecture which really did help. His lectures are recorded and uploaded to CCLE but for the most part, I attended the lectures just so I could ask him any questions I had.

HW: There is one homework assignment per week and the number of questions depended on the material taught but it was all reasonable. You had more than enough time to complete the assignment. He did not grade all the questions on the HW. There would be half the questions graded for accuracy and the rest were 'you completed them so you get the points.' The two lowest homework grades were dropped which is nice if you have a busy week.

Midterms: You are a given a 24 hour period (usually from 7 am on a Friday to 7 am on Saturday) to complete the midterms. There would be around 14ish questions. There are conceptual questions(true and false) and calculations. The midterms were designed to be completed in an hour but it definitely took me way longer than that to do. The conceptual questions usually took a little longer because you definitely had to think about them and explain your answer. I ended up doing way better than I expected on them and shocked myself. Depending on how you did, either both of the midterms were counted to your grade OR if you did really good on one and did bad on the other, he would only count the good one toward your grade and this was to allow you to get the highest grade possible (the percentage of the final grade that was associated to the midterm section was dependent on which of these two options were taken).

Final: Same format as the midterms but with more questions and it took me a lot longer but that was kind of expected.

I ended up loving this class and Professor Gannon. He exceeded all my expectations. He really did everything he could to make sure we get the highest grade possible and that if we made mistakes, they wouldn't cause our grade to totally tank. Mistakes were accepted rather than punished in this class and that was something I appreciated so much because I was given the opportunity to grow and develop my math skills rather than getting punished for a mistake. He was super kind, accommodating, and clear with his expectations and the material taught. With the fires in California this year, I had the possibility of having to evacuate during one of our midterms and he was totally understanding of the situation.

If you have the chance, take this class with Gannon. It is the best decision you will make and your grade will thank you for it.

TLDR: THE G IN GANNON STANDS FOR GOATED

This man is honestly incredible. You will appreciate him as much as he appreciates Thursdays.

- lectures are so clear and organized. imagine using Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser on your kitchen sink - that kind of clear
- content is interesting. Discrete math was a boogeyman to my poor little cs soul but Gannon really broke down the concepts and made them super intriguing
- Gannon's love and appreciation for math was just so apparent and admirable. Whenever the class covers something that he thinks is cool, he will always stop to make a point appreciating the math for what it is. The passion for the topics was honestly really infectious
- exams are as fair as the skin on Orlando Bloom's Legolas

I took Gannon during his first quarter at UCLA and he honestly was a very good professor, better than I thought. He cares about his students and is very approachable about help. His midterms and finals were 50/50 computational and conceptual so make sure you know what the heck is going on. The homework was not heavy, maybe 10-15 problems due every Friday that covered certain sections we learned the week of. Collaboration on the homework was allowed. He gives the homework along with problems that we can practice in the book that might be similar to exam questions.

This could be because it was his first quarter and he was nervous, but sometimes during lectures he would make mistakes and luckily the students caught it. Just be paying attention when he's finding derivatives or integrals and accidentally misses a negative sign. However I would love to take another class of his again. He was a great professor!

Prof Gannon is my favorite professor I've had. He's super accommodating and helpful, and obviously cares about his students. He's very responsive to emails and is willing to take any questions that students have.
Prof Gannon makes it very clear what level of knowledge he expects us to have, so the course is less stressful than most. The tests mirror the homework, so if you are successful with the homework you know that you will also do well in the exams.
Overall, Prof Gannon is a great teacher as well as being a really nice guy and I would definitely take another class from him again.