So I actually wanted to write my first review for any class I have taken in my four years here since I just feel like people won't trust some Bruinwalk reviews because the reasoning behind a review could have been just because a student didn't receive the grade they hoped for entering in. I got an A in this class but the amount of studying and honestly unnecessary tactics to get that grade felt like it wasn't me showing that I learned something from this class at the end of the day. Taking this class felt like I was just trying to avoid all the stupid obstacles she placed on her tests just to get by. I want to attest that everything that is said in the 20+ reviews is all true (except for the positive review). Her fault as a teacher is being very ingenuine and superficial in the way she says she is "helping" or "concerned" about students.

This was largely seen on the second exam where she made a remark in a lecture saying that she was surprised that students in her office hours knew so much of the material that was covered in the second exam. That wasn't because the majority of students who complained didn't study well or not understand the material. She was blind to the fact that there could be a fault in the way she was testing the concepts. It felt like she couldn't be at fault, especially when she kept uttering that the average of the second test was higher than the first as a claim to support herself in justifying the test. While grades do matter for people's GPAs, that's not a reason to say that your tests are actually good in any sense. The amount of ambiguity and the number of questions from previous exam materials on the tests made it so hard for absolutely no reason (for somehow ensuring that student learning is " priority #1"). If a test was supposed to test you on integral concepts that were covered in the exam's lectures, then how is it justifiable that testing previous material and creating weird application questions is a good measure of student learning?

My final remark is just the language and unprofessionalism she displayed in the emails she would send to the class. Students who get angry will make comments on forums or emails that will not be as professional as they ideally should be (especially during unprecedented events like the coronavirus), but that doesn't mean that the professor should reciprocate that same level of unprofessionality in her replies. When she tweeted things about her students being entitled (and the appropriate effect of students reporting this to the Deans), her language thereafter completely showed disregard to the level where her twitter apology was forced, her emails about exams showed an unprecedented level of passive-aggressiveness I had ever seen from any professor, and finally the total disregard for student's situations by saying that it's "good for student learning" to not adhere what Academic Senate suggested about finals in the wake of the coronavirus. She always backed her statements saying that the averages of the class were good just to show the impression to the department that she ran an effective class. Numbers don't lie, but in this case, they really do and these reviews don't lie at all. I don't think most students in the class were able to learn having to deal with an obstacle known as this professor to have to prove that their studying felt worth it to try to succeed in class. I may have gotten the grade I got but I did look forward to this class and its material when I first enrolled. It really left a bitter taste that this was the way this whole class (and one of my last classes at UCLA) was handled.

Shoutout to TA Nancy and Mary though. They carried the team on their back in making sense of a lot of the concepts in class and actually being really nice and approachable. Even when a question in one of the section quizzes seemed to trip a lot of students, Nancy really tried to understand the students to help understand a quiz question. It's a sad thought that the TAs were much more successful in being better teachers than the actual professor of the class.

DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR AND AVOID THIS CLASS, I AM WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW. This so-called professor is the worst and she is very unclear in her lectures. She talked smack about us on Twitter and "apologized" via email but it felt really forced. On top of that, during the COVID-19, she sent out an email and told us that she wouldn't be responding anymore... She clearly doesn't care about us as students and I HOPE SHE NEVER TEACHES AGAIN. UCLA should know that not every researcher is cut out to be a professor.

DR SHARPE IF YOUR READING THIS REEVALUATE THE WAY THAT YOU TEACH

she wanted to talk s**t about us online? its our turn

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. Worst 10 weeks of my experience at UCLA.

1. She does not care about her students
2. She posted condescending things about her students on Twitter (then, she addressed only one of the tweets in an inauthentic email apology)
3. The tests are incredibly difficult
4. The material is very complicated
5. She teaches as if she's lecturing to experts in her field rather than her students
6. The textbook is awful and does not help, don't buy it.
7. The TAs made this class bearable

If you decide to take the class anyway, good luck. You'll need it.

This class didn't seem to bad at first. She was a new professor and she seemed super awesome during the first day (syllabus day). OH boy did everything change. Her slides made no sense. Her exams were only 25 questions and the averages for midterm one was 73% and midterm 2 76% , but she did scale it up to a 80%. No one has any idea what she is saying. If it wasn't for the TAs, the averages would be 50%. During the coronavirus time, she literally sent out an email saying "she will not be looking at any emails." Most professors during this difficult time were very lenient with finals.

She claims that she care about student learning. I think she strongly disliked our class. She even tweeted something inappropriately about her students after the exam that she eventually apologized for. It was a chaotic quarter and it ended even worse towards the end.

I don't think she will be teaching this class again, but if she does I would recommend staying away from it.

I'm convinced that the only positive review on here is from her husband or herself.
Honestly, I would expect a NEW professor to be extra nice and respectful to make a good impression. We got the exact opposite of that.
We got an indifferent and condescending professor with zero empathy.
I am writing this negative review from a place of concern for other students, not hate.
I truly want to save some students the trouble of taking this class and have a headache for a whole quarter. just stay clear

Honesty the worst class I've ever taken in UCLA and I'm certain it has all to do with Sharpe.

This was Sharpe's first quarter teaching in UCLA and I don't think she understands how to teach in the quarter system yet - too much work for 10 weeks and she just rambles on in class with no particular structure thinking we can just understand her when we don't know anything about the content yet. I literally went to all the lectures, listened to the recordings afterwards like three times, and make my own notes. I spent at least 2-3x more time and effort in this class than in any other classes I've ever taken in UCLA. Yet, I'm still predicted a B grade (which I don't usually get, especially with this much work put in).

She makes sarcastic comments in class, insults students on her Twitter ("American students really don't like bad grades, huh?"), and then assumes I don't go to class when I ask more questions in her office hours.

During finals week and the whole COVID situation, she did not care about our wellbeing at all. She proceeded with the final and continued to grade harshly (even though she claimed it was lenient) without being transparent with how she calculated the final grades. When a lot of us spoke up about our concerns about our ability to focus during the finals at these stressful times, she said that she has to take care of her children and her decision was final (basically, that she will be ignoring us from now on).

DO NOT EVER TAKE THIS CLASS WITH SHARPE. Such a shame because the material is actually interesting. and the TAs were super nice and helpful. Please take it with another professor if you have to take this class.

I am so relieved to be done with this class.
It was anxiety-inducing, way too challenging and Dr. Sharpe is not an approachable person.

It's ironic that this class is about learning yet I haven't learned anything except how much I hate this class and this professor.