Balmer is really funny and smart. He is a low key, amusing Frenchman with a talent for simplifying complex ideas. He is very available and helpful during office hours, and leads good lectures. This is a very difficult course, there is no denying. But if you are going to have to take it, take it with him.

Balmer does a great job at making his students understand linear algebra. His lectures are clear, he makes a good joke from time to time, he assigns an appropriate amount of homework, and his exams do a good job at testing your depth of knowledge. He is a tough grader, but getting a 0/5 on a problem can be better for learning than a 3/5 because it forces you to reflect on what concept you might not be grasping. Not a generous curve (I was top 15% of the class for the final which was worth 60-75%, and top 33% for both midterms which are worth 15% each if final is with 60%, and got a B+), but you'll be well prepared for other upper division math after this class.

If you're as terrified of taking M115A as I was, this review is for you. I probably couldn't have been any less prepared for this class - I had taken lower division linear algebra at my community college years ago and our work was entirely computational. As such I didn't remember any of the computations and had literally no experience doing proofs going into this class.

Professor Balmer definitely expects you to have some familiarity with proofs - he uses all the standard notation that you should familiarize yourself with. As for his lectures, I did not find them to be even remotely helpful. It was 50 minutes of him racing across the board and I found it impossible to keep up with him. I was usually lost within the first few minutes and spent the remainder of class in silent agony.

Here is the good news - this class does become easier as the quarter progresses. And by easier I mean there are actual computations you can do! Yay! Not only that, but the proofs are a bit easier to understand - similar to proving trigonometric identities, in my opinion. As for the midterms, the median for the 1st midterm was 52%, the 2nd was 44%, and the final was 58%. If you get scores within the average you should at least be in the B range - lower than average will be in the C range.

My advice if you are struggling with this class is to visit him during his office hours as often as possible. He was a bit ornery during his first office hours session but he quickly warmed up to us afterwards. Good luck!

Balmer was a tough professor, but I'm only a math minor so take this with a grain of salt. The exams were really difficult, as the previous poster said, but he was always inviting people to his office hours so it's not like he didn't want to help. Sometimes the homework was misguided, especially when there were sections that had multiple problems within a problem. I think the homework would have been better had there been less problems selected more carefully, even if it were graded for correctness rather than completion. He's super smart though if that's any consolation.

I took the honors version of this class. The class was definitely tough, but Balmer is a good professor that can communicate the material very well. However, I still think Elman is a better professor in term of lectures. Both are very demanding. Balmer gave a very generous curve which more than 1/3 of class got an A and more than 2/3 got a B. Recommended and good preparation for other upper-divs.

Professor Balmer's 210B is tough, but I think it can be worth it if you are into abstract algebra. It covers everything from the middle of 110B to the end of 110C. It also covers Morita theory, projective and injective modules, tensor-hom adjunction, etc. The midterm is hard - the average was around 17-19 out of 50 - and the final's average was around 70%. He curves though. I would definitely work together with your peers. I like his kindness - I would take care to be courteous when I am interacting with him as he appreciates that. He uses his own lecture notes, which can be terse at times - if you find it a little difficult to understand his lecture notes, I would recommend Atiyah and MacDonald's textbook as a supplemental textbook.

Intending to take his class next quarter