Professor

Parvaneh Ghaforyfard

AD
2.8
Overall Ratings
Based on 39 Users
Easiness 3.2 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Workload 3.1 / 5 How light the workload is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Clarity 2.3 / 5 How clear the professor is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Helpfulness 2.3 / 5 How helpful the professor is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

Reviews (39)

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COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 31, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: C+

I have had the chance to take this class twice (last year, pre-pandemic, and this year, in the middle of the pandemic), both with Seungbae Kim discussion (he held both discussion last year). I failed the first time, so that fact may skew my review somewhat.
Lecturing style: She doesn't use slides and prefer to just write across the whiteboard (or OneNote this year). She focuses on doing the example in lecture. The example in the lecture are quite similar to the question on the homework and exams. She makes an effort to remember everyone face and name. She request that you wait until you finish a topic and ask "Do you have any question ?" to ask your question. In online classes, she does record her lecture. She doesn't want student to create groupme (or other kind of chat) but rather student interact with each other through piazza.
Quiz + Exams: I personally think that the exams and quizzes are quite hard, it is because she doesn't give enough time for us.
Grading: While she does announces what percentage each category is, she doesn't announce the baseline grade for each letter grade.
I think that, knowing her, she does try her best to accommodate her student. Given that in Summer 2019, she did offer a make-up oral exams for the students that misses the exams for whatever reason. This year, she did accommodate our situation by offering time quizzes and exams with a 12 hour windows (for quizzes) and 15 hour window (for final) which you can take whenever you feel like it. Although for some reason, she doesn't allow that accommodation for the midterm and forced us to take it all the same time (proctored by our TA through Zoom) instead.
Going to her in-person office hour, she likes to address student by name, which I think is really nice. I think that it doesn't translate well to Piazza because student who wishes go anonymous may felt called out.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 25, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A

Rate my professor sucks, she truly hates ucla students
Professor Ghaforyfard tried her best to explain the content of the class; however, it can be a bit rushed and unorganized. If you are in another time zone, reconsider your choice of taking this class as she will suddenly cancel your exam accommodation and reply " this is going to be the end of this discussion" if you ask more questions for clarification (Piazza, 2020 Summer).
For more information, search Ouch that hurts r/ucla

More updates, this class is down curved during a pandemic, and she blatantly ignored a student's question by shutting down the piazza when a student raised questions about the grading scheme. For more information, check Illogical Design of Ethical Systems 2: Electric Boogaloo r/ucla

Will not recommend any students who want to take it unless you absolutely need it (Easy A, but sacrificing your sanity).
THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST CLASS I'VE EVER HAD IN UCLA. AVOID AT ALL COST.

Helpful?

5 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 26, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A

I think the professor has good intentions—she responds to emails pretty quickly and will try to answer your questions. Sometimes she doesn't do so super well, but she tries. Not a horrible lecturer. I didn't find the class material super difficult, so maybe my opinion is skewed. There is censorship going on, as she doesn't answer logistic questions (she didn't answer any of the questions regarding getting a grade estimation before the P/NP deadline), can be a little passive aggressive (ex. regarding the midterm issue that I'm sure is mentioned in other reviews), and didn't allow us to form a groupme or anything like that. This can be super stressful because we didn't know about the extremely unaccommodating midterm logistics until like less than a week before it. She also has a whack grading scheme where only above 94 is an A, so be careful. However, I've found that contacting the TAs can help with any grading issues that might arise, which helps a lot (probably wouldn't have gotten an A without them). Overall, not horrible, but probably choose somebody else if you want a professor that'll accommodate your needs.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Aug. 22, 2022
Quarter: Summer 2022
Grade: NR

unbelievable professor. Run as far as you can !!!

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Aug. 8, 2019
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: N/A

Professor Ghaforyfard is extremely patient and helpful both in lecture and office hour. She cares about the student and always keep the class active. I am so glad that I took the summer course with her.
Her lecture style:
Unlike other professors who only explained the concept of the topic, Professor Ghaforyfard explained the concept and linked it with several extremely helpful examples (problems) to make the students understand deeper about the topic. She also taught us about how to approach the problems and several shortcuts for solving the problem, and it makes life a lot easier.

4 LABs- DATA Lab (easy)
Bomb Lab (Medium and interesting)
Attack Lab ( Not So hard)
Malloc Lab ( SUPER HARD, Un-doable (for me) )

HW are from the textbook.

Attendance: Do not skip lectures! She sometimes makes students sign in.

Grading: Project 45% , HW 5%, MT 20%, Final 30%

Overall, Highly recommended definitely would take it again,

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI 33
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Oct. 25, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B-

Lecture: Lectures were often hard to follow. Explanations of topics were not always clear, and I found myself watching certain lectures over and over to understand the material. For some topics she jumps into them quite quickly, making it hard to pick up.

Projects: The projects themselves were reasonable once you understand how to do them, but it was hard to get to that point of understanding through the lectures. There are online resources that help with the material needed for the projects.

Exams: I found the exams to be exceptionally difficult. The time restraint of three hours was not enough, and the exam material was consistently hard. Some problems were worth large chunks of the test and focused on a specific topic, so if you did not understand that topic, your grade was sure to be low.

Tips: Her CS33 curriculum follows CMU's 15-213 curriculum, so if you find her lectures difficult to follow you can watch CMU's public lectures for their respective class. For the exams make sure to fully understand each project.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Sept. 1, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A

This class was roasted as "Illogical Design of Ethical Systems." I bet you can't find a better name than this gem.
The class was easy, but I hated it. I'll rather do 10 CS32 project 3s than to retake this class.
For more roasts, check here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/hzfn83/ouch_that_hurts/fzikubt/
and
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/igp21l/illogical_design_of_ethical_systems_2_electric/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI 33
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Aug. 29, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+

This has got to be the worst experience I've had in a class ever. I took this course online due to COVID-19 and the professor did not adapt well to the online format at all. There were constant logistical issues with the lectures-even like 7 weeks into the class. She would keep pointing to things with her mouse but nobody could see her mouse. She once set a meeting password without telling anyone what it was, and when the TA's finally gave it to us and we showed up 9 minutes in, she said she was just going to continue lecturing. The lectures are incredibly boring and hard to follow (It's hard to even stay awake while watching them). Her explanations were terrible. That's not all her fault, the material is pretty boring too, but she made it so much more complicated than it had to be. The labs were pretty okay to do as long as you read the textbook well and go to discussion. The midterms and final were pretty hard to even complete. Oh and we had a 3 hour midterm. For context, I did pretty well in and enjoyed CS 32, but this class was not it. It legit made me cry through every one of the 9 weeks. Avoid taking it with her at all costs if possible. If not, make sure you read the textbook really well, attend discussion with a good TA, and try to get near perfect scores on the labs because the exams are TOUGH.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Aug. 30, 2022
Quarter: Summer 2022
Grade: A

So if you guys see the comments for the professor from the people who took the class before me, you'll definitely form a negative opinion about the professor but let me tell you the professor really took the comments here and on Reddit positively and taught this class in summer from a new fresh perspective.
It was surprising that she also gave a long talk about how students were upset with her last year but she took decided to work on that. Something I can't expect from any professor.

There were accommodations for tests being 24 hours but had a window of set time. This class had the patters of 5% homework, 20% worth of 4 weekly quizzes, 35% midterm and 40% finals. The class was recorded and professors responded to emails quickly. Another positive thing was having Salekh as the TA if you have taken or planning to take CS 33, would have definitely heard about how great he is. I feel the prof gave much more power to the TAs this time which really improved the class.

There are no extra credit opportunities and the curve was based on the standard UCLA grading scheme (93+ = A, 90+ = A-, and so on)

The only complaint with the class is this class is of 8 weeks only and for CE and EE majors for whom this course is really important, I fear the upcoming classes like M151A,B. Overall, I would not recommend any ECE majors taking this class in summer simply because of the lack of time but would definitely recommend the professor.

Helpful?

2 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
July 28, 2020
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: N/A

Personally I do not understand where did those complaints come from. Professor Ghaforyfard said on one of her first lectures that "it's unlikely to have another time slot/version for exams; but she would be willing to gave 1-to-1 oral exams instead for those who could not make to the tests", which she is actually doing for summer 2020. Moreover, for all quizzes, students are given 12-hr time window to finish in order to accommodate students from different time zones. I think the professor has done a lot to accommodate everyone and prevent possible unfairness.

Helpful?

4 6 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: C+
July 31, 2020

I have had the chance to take this class twice (last year, pre-pandemic, and this year, in the middle of the pandemic), both with Seungbae Kim discussion (he held both discussion last year). I failed the first time, so that fact may skew my review somewhat.
Lecturing style: She doesn't use slides and prefer to just write across the whiteboard (or OneNote this year). She focuses on doing the example in lecture. The example in the lecture are quite similar to the question on the homework and exams. She makes an effort to remember everyone face and name. She request that you wait until you finish a topic and ask "Do you have any question ?" to ask your question. In online classes, she does record her lecture. She doesn't want student to create groupme (or other kind of chat) but rather student interact with each other through piazza.
Quiz + Exams: I personally think that the exams and quizzes are quite hard, it is because she doesn't give enough time for us.
Grading: While she does announces what percentage each category is, she doesn't announce the baseline grade for each letter grade.
I think that, knowing her, she does try her best to accommodate her student. Given that in Summer 2019, she did offer a make-up oral exams for the students that misses the exams for whatever reason. This year, she did accommodate our situation by offering time quizzes and exams with a 12 hour windows (for quizzes) and 15 hour window (for final) which you can take whenever you feel like it. Although for some reason, she doesn't allow that accommodation for the midterm and forced us to take it all the same time (proctored by our TA through Zoom) instead.
Going to her in-person office hour, she likes to address student by name, which I think is really nice. I think that it doesn't translate well to Piazza because student who wishes go anonymous may felt called out.

Helpful?

2 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
July 25, 2020

Rate my professor sucks, she truly hates ucla students
Professor Ghaforyfard tried her best to explain the content of the class; however, it can be a bit rushed and unorganized. If you are in another time zone, reconsider your choice of taking this class as she will suddenly cancel your exam accommodation and reply " this is going to be the end of this discussion" if you ask more questions for clarification (Piazza, 2020 Summer).
For more information, search Ouch that hurts r/ucla

More updates, this class is down curved during a pandemic, and she blatantly ignored a student's question by shutting down the piazza when a student raised questions about the grading scheme. For more information, check Illogical Design of Ethical Systems 2: Electric Boogaloo r/ucla

Will not recommend any students who want to take it unless you absolutely need it (Easy A, but sacrificing your sanity).
THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST CLASS I'VE EVER HAD IN UCLA. AVOID AT ALL COST.

Helpful?

5 2 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
Aug. 26, 2020

I think the professor has good intentions—she responds to emails pretty quickly and will try to answer your questions. Sometimes she doesn't do so super well, but she tries. Not a horrible lecturer. I didn't find the class material super difficult, so maybe my opinion is skewed. There is censorship going on, as she doesn't answer logistic questions (she didn't answer any of the questions regarding getting a grade estimation before the P/NP deadline), can be a little passive aggressive (ex. regarding the midterm issue that I'm sure is mentioned in other reviews), and didn't allow us to form a groupme or anything like that. This can be super stressful because we didn't know about the extremely unaccommodating midterm logistics until like less than a week before it. She also has a whack grading scheme where only above 94 is an A, so be careful. However, I've found that contacting the TAs can help with any grading issues that might arise, which helps a lot (probably wouldn't have gotten an A without them). Overall, not horrible, but probably choose somebody else if you want a professor that'll accommodate your needs.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
Quarter: Summer 2022
Grade: NR
Aug. 22, 2022

unbelievable professor. Run as far as you can !!!

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI 33
Quarter: Summer 2019
Grade: N/A
Aug. 8, 2019

Professor Ghaforyfard is extremely patient and helpful both in lecture and office hour. She cares about the student and always keep the class active. I am so glad that I took the summer course with her.
Her lecture style:
Unlike other professors who only explained the concept of the topic, Professor Ghaforyfard explained the concept and linked it with several extremely helpful examples (problems) to make the students understand deeper about the topic. She also taught us about how to approach the problems and several shortcuts for solving the problem, and it makes life a lot easier.

4 LABs- DATA Lab (easy)
Bomb Lab (Medium and interesting)
Attack Lab ( Not So hard)
Malloc Lab ( SUPER HARD, Un-doable (for me) )

HW are from the textbook.

Attendance: Do not skip lectures! She sometimes makes students sign in.

Grading: Project 45% , HW 5%, MT 20%, Final 30%

Overall, Highly recommended definitely would take it again,

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI 33
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B-
Oct. 25, 2020

Lecture: Lectures were often hard to follow. Explanations of topics were not always clear, and I found myself watching certain lectures over and over to understand the material. For some topics she jumps into them quite quickly, making it hard to pick up.

Projects: The projects themselves were reasonable once you understand how to do them, but it was hard to get to that point of understanding through the lectures. There are online resources that help with the material needed for the projects.

Exams: I found the exams to be exceptionally difficult. The time restraint of three hours was not enough, and the exam material was consistently hard. Some problems were worth large chunks of the test and focused on a specific topic, so if you did not understand that topic, your grade was sure to be low.

Tips: Her CS33 curriculum follows CMU's 15-213 curriculum, so if you find her lectures difficult to follow you can watch CMU's public lectures for their respective class. For the exams make sure to fully understand each project.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: A
Sept. 1, 2020

This class was roasted as "Illogical Design of Ethical Systems." I bet you can't find a better name than this gem.
The class was easy, but I hated it. I'll rather do 10 CS32 project 3s than to retake this class.
For more roasts, check here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/hzfn83/ouch_that_hurts/fzikubt/
and
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucla/comments/igp21l/illogical_design_of_ethical_systems_2_electric/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI 33
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: B+
Aug. 29, 2020

This has got to be the worst experience I've had in a class ever. I took this course online due to COVID-19 and the professor did not adapt well to the online format at all. There were constant logistical issues with the lectures-even like 7 weeks into the class. She would keep pointing to things with her mouse but nobody could see her mouse. She once set a meeting password without telling anyone what it was, and when the TA's finally gave it to us and we showed up 9 minutes in, she said she was just going to continue lecturing. The lectures are incredibly boring and hard to follow (It's hard to even stay awake while watching them). Her explanations were terrible. That's not all her fault, the material is pretty boring too, but she made it so much more complicated than it had to be. The labs were pretty okay to do as long as you read the textbook well and go to discussion. The midterms and final were pretty hard to even complete. Oh and we had a 3 hour midterm. For context, I did pretty well in and enjoyed CS 32, but this class was not it. It legit made me cry through every one of the 9 weeks. Avoid taking it with her at all costs if possible. If not, make sure you read the textbook really well, attend discussion with a good TA, and try to get near perfect scores on the labs because the exams are TOUGH.

Helpful?

1 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
Quarter: Summer 2022
Grade: A
Aug. 30, 2022

So if you guys see the comments for the professor from the people who took the class before me, you'll definitely form a negative opinion about the professor but let me tell you the professor really took the comments here and on Reddit positively and taught this class in summer from a new fresh perspective.
It was surprising that she also gave a long talk about how students were upset with her last year but she took decided to work on that. Something I can't expect from any professor.

There were accommodations for tests being 24 hours but had a window of set time. This class had the patters of 5% homework, 20% worth of 4 weekly quizzes, 35% midterm and 40% finals. The class was recorded and professors responded to emails quickly. Another positive thing was having Salekh as the TA if you have taken or planning to take CS 33, would have definitely heard about how great he is. I feel the prof gave much more power to the TAs this time which really improved the class.

There are no extra credit opportunities and the curve was based on the standard UCLA grading scheme (93+ = A, 90+ = A-, and so on)

The only complaint with the class is this class is of 8 weeks only and for CE and EE majors for whom this course is really important, I fear the upcoming classes like M151A,B. Overall, I would not recommend any ECE majors taking this class in summer simply because of the lack of time but would definitely recommend the professor.

Helpful?

2 1 Please log in to provide feedback.
COM SCI M51A
COVID-19 This review was submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Your experience may vary.
Quarter: Summer 2020
Grade: N/A
July 28, 2020

Personally I do not understand where did those complaints come from. Professor Ghaforyfard said on one of her first lectures that "it's unlikely to have another time slot/version for exams; but she would be willing to gave 1-to-1 oral exams instead for those who could not make to the tests", which she is actually doing for summer 2020. Moreover, for all quizzes, students are given 12-hr time window to finish in order to accommodate students from different time zones. I think the professor has done a lot to accommodate everyone and prevent possible unfairness.

Helpful?

4 6 Please log in to provide feedback.
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