Margulis is a great professor. He really dedicates a lot of time and energy into his classes, and he also expects the same amount of effort from you. His homework assignments are pretty time-consuming and make up a significant part of your grade. The problems in the homework assignments relate directly to his lectures (if not, you can usually find a similar example in the book), and the same types of problems show up on exams. The homework usually involves MATLAB, but it is MUCH simpler than the types of problems that you encounter in CEE 15. He allows you to use two full sheets of notes on the midterm, and four full sheets on the final. Make sure to learn the problems in the homework really well and you should do fine on the exams. However, I highly suspect that Margulis doesn't curve his class at all, so you have to score very high on everything in his class to get a good grade.

Really good professor. He is incredibly fair and will NOT ask you random questions on exams. Margulis is very organized and he gives very thorough notes so you will always know exactly what to study. How well you do is simply a matter of how much time you're willing to put into studying. The homework can get lengthy at times, but if you can do it on your own, you're pretty much set. Every homework has some matlab in it (and homework is worth a LOT), so either know it well, or find a classmate that does. Margulis is a great guy, and is very patient and soft-spoken. Take advantage of his office hours because he's probably one of the nicest professors we have at UCLA.

I took CEE 150 with him as well, and all of the comments above also apply. I recommend you take 150 if you're interested at all in water resources because you learn a lot of interesting things that you may not get from your general required classes.

Prof. Margulis really invests in the classes he teaches. 151 wasn't as interesting as 150, but from what the TAs said, 151 is really difficult course to teach.

Both classes were very notes-intensive, and Prof. Margulis will utilize every last second he can. So, don't be dumb like me and try to fit an extra class into last quarter's half-used notebook.

If you want a leg up on other students in 150/151, make sure you've either previously taken, or are concurrently taking, CEE 15 (the MATLAB course). The HW usually has 1-3 MATLAB-related problems, and your overall HW counts for 25-35% of your grade, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Also, don't be hesitant to approach Prof. Margulis in his office hours, or to ask for an appointment. Really chill, pleasant guy.