Professor Nurbekyan relies heavily on the textbook, so much that some lectures felt like he was reciting the textbook. It wasn't a bad thing, it just would've been a lot better if he used the lecture time to teach it in his own terms. Regardless, he was alright. Lectures tended to be monotonous, but important as he does show some tips on how to tackle questions that will come up in the midterms and final. Speaking of which, the first midterm will feel like cake-walk, but the second one will hurt if you don't FULLY understand related rates and minimization/maximization. The final was a mixed bag; some questions took mere seconds while one or two really took your time. Again, emphasize your study time on related rates and optimization, as he loves these types of questions.

Also, he likes to wear an iconic red tracksuit sweater, so keep an eye out for that in class :)

UMMM Nurbekyan is not a great teacher but he's a really nice guy and his class is super easy. The first midterm was a joke I think the median was a 94. And I don't feel like the easiness of his class is setting me back in 31B at all. so would recommend I guess

ok so basically Levon is what you would call a very mediocre teacher. I can't say he's a mean teacher, but I can't say he's an exceptionally nice teacher either. he's just mediocre.

that said, his teaching skills are horrid. he spend every lecture mumbling, facing the board, scribbling problems that were so simple yet he made them seem impossible to do. his in class problems never deviated from the examples in the textbook, yet his tests were drastically different. every example problem he did, no matter how straightforward, seemed like another language. furthermore, he never introduces a topic or explains what type of question he is doing OR EVEN NAMES THE CHAPTER WE ARE ON, instead he starts scribbling on the board with no introduction, going from problem to problem with no explanation. his biggest fault is that he lacks simplicity. solving example problems from the book are hardly difficult, yet he always chooses to solve a problem in the hardest possible manner with little explanation.

aside from Levon's subpar teaching skills, most of the TAs were also generally unhelpful. I just don't understand why some of these people choose to teach. Kyle gettig, my TA, was possibly worse at teaching than Levon. he just had no clue how to clearly and precisely explain any topic. asking a question will only further confuse you with this TA. HOWEVER JOSEPH BREEN is A LITERAL SAVIOR IN THE MATH DEPARTMENT. THIS MAN IS THE CEO OF MATH, CALCULUS, AND DERIVING. HE TOOK TIME OUT OF HIS PERSONAL LIFE TO LEAD TWO REVIEW SESSIONS BEFORE THE TESTS WHEN OUR OWN PROFESSOR COULDNT EVEN MAKE A STUDY GUIDE. IF ANYONE DESERVES CREDIT FOR SIMPLIFYING THIS MATH CLASS IT IS JOE.

ILY JOE

so yea if you take this course FIND JOE

Overall the class was quite average. I did the assignments with rusty knowledge of Calculus AB and BC from high school but still didn't do as well as I imagined. The first midterm was very easy, but the second was fairly challenging in comparison. I blanked and forgot the distance formula (yes, the old distance formula from years ago) and therefore was not able to complete a 15 point question. My TA Max was a nice guy, but he really struggled to present concise material and would often leave problems unfinished. One of the other TAs (mentioned in reviews) provided review sessions with very similar questions to the exams. To be honest, coming from someone without this TA, I felt highly disadvantaged. I believe that the final should have been curved and I would have appreciated more complicated problems being presented in lecture.

I consistently scores 20/15 on homework, which meant answers 100% correct plus extra credit for neat, clear work. However the exams were graded on a completely different standard - answers which would have been worth full credit on homework were given half credit or less due to the professor's insanely strict expectations for what a proof is WHICH HE NEVER EVEN MENTIONED IN CLASS. This guy is terrible, his class is a trap for people unable to read his mind. Unless you have the answer key while you're taking the test, you're screwed.

I have to disagree with the comment before mine. Dr. Levon is great and gives out a lot of extra credit. His lecture style is way more engaging and coherent than my 115A's prof, and he also gives a lot of office hours as well. Be sure to do more questions in the book and ask as many questions as possible in the review sections. I bombed very bad on the first midterm, but thanks to his leniency in grading you see my grade now. Overall, I would recommend everyone to take him PROVIDED that you go to office hours regularly and ask questions frequently even if it seems to be basic. I ask a lot of obvious questions in class and sound stupid at times, but they will help you later on.

He's a pretty confusing lecturer so it's kind of hard to follow what he's saying but I go to his office hour regularly and it helps tremendously. He is quite helpful and concerned with how you're doing as long as you ask questions. His midterms are medium difficulty and has around 70-80% averages. If it wasn't for the max(midterm1, midterm2), I definitely wouldn't have gotten an A. His final is hard af but that's probably cause of COVID-19 which forces everyone to do take home tests. It took me around 7-8 hours to finish his supposedly 3 hour take home tests with the same averages as midterms. Highly recommend overall although you should supplement his lectures with office hours.

I disagree with the other comments saying his lectures were unclear and the tests unfair. Professor Nurbekyan was extremely helpful and gave a great understanding of the class material, and I felt fully prepared for the tests. It is however important to go to section because that's where much of the test/HW expectations are discussed. The TA at the time (Steven) was very helpful and explicitly told us what standard our proofs would be held to.

As some of the other commenters discussed, he gave up to 20/15 on the homeworks which was a great buffer for a pretty tricky class. The midterms and final were tricky and a bit of a time crunch but doable and pretty similar to the homeworks. Overall, he's a great professor and I would take his class again.

It's easy to see that Prof. Nurbekyan genuinely wants to be of assistance to his students.

As someone who often struggles with calculus, I'll honestly say that the C I received was generous, so the curve really helped ! I think the professor saw that I was making an effort to grasp the material as best as I could, and knew the minimum grade I needed for this class to qualify as a prereq for my major.

Although many say that this professor's lectures were monotone and average, from my point of view, he was doing the best he could, because honestly my class didn't give him much to work with as there was very little participation during the lectures.

I would recommend this class to a friend, as the workload was very manageable, and the professor is one of the nicest staff members I've encountered while at UCLA. He made an effort to know the names of the students, ask their opinions on the class, and genuinely made an effort to ask us how our first year experience at UCLA was going.

He was a big help during office hours, and a couple times, I noticed that he had stayed a whole extra hour after his designated office hours to help the struggling students.

Although online learning is not ideal, this has been a wonderful experience for 115A. Homework questions are interesting and challenging, and there isn't too much homework either. Tests are medium difficulty and thought-provoking. If you know the material well, you should be able to answer them.