You should not take Ocal if you could help it. He is horrible at explaining the concepts you need to learn because he recites it exactly for what it is in the textbook. This results in most students learning/teaching themselves from the textbook.(dw organic chemistry teacher will save u) He is nice and outwardly positive as he often asks if students have questions but most of the time you'll be more confused than anything to even be able to ask a question. He also does not respond to emails and to address any issues with homework and grading you'd have to attend his office hours. If thats an issue for you I'm just saying for a heads up. His grading is pretty understandable as a curve is often applied and there are different ways he weighs your exams to make sure you get the highest grade possible. However, unless you like to teach calc 2 to yourself/have smart friends to help you I would strongly advise you to take a different professor.

Pablo seems like a nice guy, very bubbly and bouncy in class. However, he is not a great lecturer. While hearing him explain some theorems and do some example problems was mildly helpful for my understanding of the content, when it came time to take the tests it seemed like his goal was to trick you. The homework was usually okay, but at times it was so difficult I ended up not answering some questions and taking the point loss. As for his tests, they were pretty horrible to say the least. I did well on the first two midterms, but the final…….
Not to mention, when we got to the final exam room, he failed to print enough tests for the entire course of students. About 1/3 of the students had to wait 40 minutes after the others had started because they did not arrive early enough - aka 10-20 minutes early - to receive a copy of the exam. This just goes to show how unorganized this professor is.
I will say that his grading scheme is mostly forgiving, even if he didn’t curve the final exam. But still, try to avoid taking this professor as much as possible. Sorry Pablo.

Very difficult class to follow. Often walked away from class feeling like I understood very little from the way the material was taught. Like others have said, it is clear that professor Ocal knows the material well, and is knowledgeable. However, his method of teaching is unsatisfactory for many, as it is very unengaging, passive, and extremely fast-paced. He repeats much stuff directly from the textbook, without really dissecting the concepts themselves. The best way to explain his teaching is that he teaches it as if he assumes the students will understand what he says immediately after he says it. Definitely do some practice from the textbook, look up these topics from more engaging instructors on youtube (ochem tutor and bprp!), and manifest with all your might.
The TA I had, Kiran, was also extremely confusing in his explanations, and often further complicated the lecture material for me. Worked really fast/brushed by concepts quickly, did not engage with the students while explaining, and would often make mistakes WHILE explaining. All of these factors made for a very difficult class, and I would not recommend it for 31B.

If you even remotely enjoy doing math, spare yourself the pain and avoid this man at all cost. Where do I even begin with Pablo? This professor is the worst math professor I've ever had and that comes from someone who has an abusive math teacher in middle school. He is sooo unhelpful, uncaring, and overall bad at teaching. He either cancelled class or recorded videos for the class several times because he could not make it, but when it came to me as a student being unable to send out a homework on time he always said he can't since he has 700 hundred srudents and that it's against policy. My overall feeling towards this class is that he truly did not care for students and as someone considering to do a minor in math/statistics, after taking his class I would not want to do another math class even if I had gun pointing to my head. I

Although I'm entirely sure he's knowledgeable about the material on its own, he doesn't really seem to know how to teach it in a way that's accessible for his students. His lectures don't explain concepts, rather, he writes the definition of concepts and then does a few practice problems from the textbook. This isn't really conducive to effective learning in math, because the material is all conceptual. He started writing down the hyperbolic table without even telling us what hyperbolic functions were! I definitely had to spend a lot of time outside of class working to understand what he was attempting to teach, and it was just time-consuming and so exhausting. However, I do acknowledge that he does seem to care about his students and anytime someone had a question, he would do his best to explain the concept immediately, which I do appreciate. I really just think he should stick to being an exceptional mathematician, rather than use his confusing methods to teach students.

This is not a class for the weak. Professor Ocal does not deserve all the hate for this, though. The class is genuinely difficult, especially for students with little to no calculus background. You can tell the professor tries to convey the inherently hard concepts in an understandable way, but he sometimes falls short of ensuring 100% comprehension. The lectures are fast-paced and topical, but this was necessary to make sure we made it through the course on time. Grouped in with lectures are review sessions before exams, and these were really helpful. The professor did problems that mirrored the format of the midterm/final on the blackboard and encouraged student participation to work them out step-by-step. More often than not, very similar questions were on the exam itself. The grading scheme is an absolute godsend. I did pretty awful on my first midterm, but was saved by the scheme which takes the best of two midterm scores. After each exam it was always, "well there's always midterm 2 / the final" because the grading scheme can be so generous in not counting bad scores. Many people complain that Ocal "just teaches from the book" and admittedly, he does, but I don't see a problem with that. Outlined in the homework problems for each week are "optional" reading assignments that are truly beneficial to actually read. I think people would better understand Ocal's logic and style and do better in the class if they treated the textbook like a very helpful supplement to the lectures rather than an optional reading assignment that was paid no attention to. All of this is to say, I would recommend this class with Dr. Ocal if you are willing to put in the effort to succeed.

After hearing things about Pablo, I took the route of just self studying off the textbook. I feel like this is a fairly easy class to self study because there's just one or two things to know from every lesson. All I did to study was spam the problems Pablo recommended to do from the textbook and make sure I did them correctly by checking my answers on Quizlet (there's a Quizlet with all the answers). I didn't go to a single lecture, discussion, or OH. I would say that the midterms were fair and I did really well on both. However, Pablo decided to throw in the hardest integrals and limit comparison test I've ever seen on the final so I got an 80 on it, but the grading scheme saved my grade. If you're confident in your self study skills, take this class. If not, go with another professor.

I was scared going into this class given all the negative reviews but honestly if I had to take it with him again I would. He's very funny and always asks if there are any questions. If he doesn't finish the material in class he will upload onto zoom as a recording, although they might go over the normal hour. His tests are good as long as you study with the additional homework problems. I do strongly reccomend memorizing the hyperbolic table he goes over as the final is strongly hyperbolic trig. Overall he has a very lenient grading scheme. I am a person who struggles with math and this class made me like math again.

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