Some people have this weird need of protecting Ocal for some reason. But as a person who didn't take Calculus BC or IB Math, I had to learn a lot of material. By myself. His lectures are confusing, and he might be a nice guy, but nice Bruinwalk is not about rating how nice of a guy is your professor. The final and exams, overall, must provide an understanding of how students have learnt the material, but when you test it using way, way more advanced examples (like in today's final, which even for the people who got 99 in midterms texted me asking what the hell was it), which breaks the sense of learning as most likely a curve would be needed. Never take Ocal. I was persuaded by a friend who said yeah, it's okay, it's fine. Trust me guys, it wouldn't be. You will be miserable with him. And for those who have a weird fascination with protecting Ocal, guys, I know you know the material beforehand or you might be just math majors, but please don't set expectations for those who just need to pass their 31B.

I loved this class I feel that the hate Professor Ocal gets is unwarranted. He explains the topics well enough and while it might not always be the best explanation if you read the chapter before lecture as the homework tells you to (it doesnt actually tell you to but it just makes the most sense to do that) it will make complete sense. Professer Ocal is also very kind and helpful offering extra office hours after canceling lecture a few times and even staying after class to answer questions in the short 10 minutes he has between classes. Not only that but his practice exams are extremely helpful for the actual exams as they are so much harder then the actual test and I feel it prepares you for the test more. Also his tests were incredibly easy much easier then the practice problems we would do in class for midterm review. Professer Ocal is also very animated during lecture making them incredibly interesting and engaging. The only problem i would say I have with his lectures is that his handwriting is a bit hard to read but if you just listen and write what hes saying its the same shit he writes on the board

Professor Ocal is the worst math teacher I have ever encountered since I first started taking math classes in kindergarten. He is a very nice guy and he means well, but I have never met someone so atrocious at explaining math. He is nice enough to ask "any questions?" throughout lecture but people are so lost in his rambling by then that asking a question would be pointless. A few weeks ago I found that it is more beneficial for me to watch ten minute videos online about the topics rather than go to Professor Ocal's lectures. I stopped going to lectures and started watching these videos and my homework grades have dramatically increased since. He is good at math but he can't teach to save his life. I think his talents would be better suited for a job in accounting or something along those lines.

I liked Ocal. He takes feedback from students and applies them to his lecture. His lectures were initially all over the place, then they became very well-structured and clear. He's very enthusiastic!
His midterms and finals are very similar to previous quarters, so a test bank is super useful.

His energy at 8 in the morning is just crazy. I'll never forget the first lecture when he went in at 8am and started destroying the blackboard with his chalk; the whole MS4000 was shaking because he just had so much power writing on the board.
Lectures: not the best lecturer tbh, although he does do a good job being patience and helpful with answering questions. I just wished his explanation of concepts are more logical and "derived", instead of just "giving it" as a definition from textbooks.
Tests: super easy. Do you homework and discussion worksheets and you'd be fine.
HW: problems from the textbook. My study group was super helpful and most people got 100s on HW and worksheets.

Pablo is a great professor. He takes feedback and always has the best math jokes. The midterms and final had 5-6 and 10 questions, respectively, where the first question was actually a group of true or false questions and the rest of the questions were in the same format as problems from the homework and textbook. Thumbs Up.

Prof. Ocal for 33A was great and especially lively for an 8am (despite how he joked about constantly needing more coffee). Some would say his lectures are not very clear, but they were definitely follow-able, and he goes parallel with the textbook most times, so you can always refer back to a chapter. Homework questions were more challenge/conceptual-based, but the practice exams he provides greatly reflect the actual exams (which many were actually copies of textbook problems). Take this class, you’ll love linear algebra afterwards.

Pablo was not the greatest at teaching at the beginning. He made mistakes on the board that caused me to be confused. I ended up just using Youtube to learn since he doesn't ask too many tedious questions on exams, and all of them are some form of question straight from the book. The homework is pretty short, and there's a solutions manual floating out there. The discussion worksheets is just a matter of going to your discussion and copying whatever the TA writes because they are way harder than what is on the exam.

All of his stuff is on his github page at pabloocal.github.io, so you can preview the course from previous quarters. Alternatively, you can look up his github repository where you can dig through files.

Pretty nice and easy class.
Final was a bit tougher than midterms n homework

I had Pablo for Math 31B, which I confess was a difficult course with him. However, since I took him the last time, I'm not sure if it's because he prefers linear algebra over calculus or if he's absorbed all of the reviews he's gotten, but man has he improved significantly. I can now confirm that he is in fact a brilliant professor!

Every homework (and exam) problem was manageable and accurately represented what he lectured on. He did not assign any tedious homework and, in fact, made part of it optional through ”recommended exercises.” Not to mention that some of our exam problems were similar, if not identical, to those from homework and discussion.

He is not out to trick you or anything. He’s easily accessible and if you need help, don’t be afraid to go to OH! He’s super friendly. Thanks for a great quarter Pablo!