Professor
Tamara Kucherenko
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Most Helpful Review
My first quarter at UCLA, first day of classes, and in walks this smoking hot woman. "Hello Everyone! I am Professero Kucherenko. Who's ready to learn math?" Without a doubt, Tamara Kucherenko is probably one of the best teachers, yes teachers, I've ever had. No tricks on her exams. They weren't easy, but if you went to lecture, took good notes, made a decent effort on the homework problems, and generally knew what you were doing (meaning you cared about the material), you will do well. Don't let her accent intimidate you. She is a very sweet woman, and an effective teacher. She teaches based on examples, but every so often she will throw up a derivation or two just to show how the equation came to be. All in all, I look back at this class fondly. And after taking 25+ classes at UCLA, you tend to know which teachers genuinely cared about their students and wanted them to do well, and which ones did not. She is the former of the two.
My first quarter at UCLA, first day of classes, and in walks this smoking hot woman. "Hello Everyone! I am Professero Kucherenko. Who's ready to learn math?" Without a doubt, Tamara Kucherenko is probably one of the best teachers, yes teachers, I've ever had. No tricks on her exams. They weren't easy, but if you went to lecture, took good notes, made a decent effort on the homework problems, and generally knew what you were doing (meaning you cared about the material), you will do well. Don't let her accent intimidate you. She is a very sweet woman, and an effective teacher. She teaches based on examples, but every so often she will throw up a derivation or two just to show how the equation came to be. All in all, I look back at this class fondly. And after taking 25+ classes at UCLA, you tend to know which teachers genuinely cared about their students and wanted them to do well, and which ones did not. She is the former of the two.
Most Helpful Review
She is a very good teacher and goes over the material pretty well. She does a lot of examples in class. She is pretty friendly when it comes to asking her questions too. Her tests are HARD!!!!! They are not easy by any standard. There is always some kind of trick that she did not exactly teach you. Overall though a very good teacher and I would recommend her to anybody that is actually interested in learning.
She is a very good teacher and goes over the material pretty well. She does a lot of examples in class. She is pretty friendly when it comes to asking her questions too. Her tests are HARD!!!!! They are not easy by any standard. There is always some kind of trick that she did not exactly teach you. Overall though a very good teacher and I would recommend her to anybody that is actually interested in learning.
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Normally, my philosophy is that math is math. I learn from the book and exercises. However, the lectures I did attend were about as interesting as a math lecture can be. I'm sure all the professors here know their math, so the only separating factors are lecturing and grading. Kucherenko puts a lot of personality into her lectures and I thought her accent was more entertaining than it was confusing. As far as grading, homework is due once a week and worth 10-20% I don't remember exactly. There are no quizzes, two midterms and the final. The tests will be slightly more complicated than the homework but she gives practice tests if you want to use them. You are not required to attend discussion or lecture, simply to show up and turn in homework every friday. For the tests, she gives partial credit but also takes partial credit away so make sure to show your work. I found the right answer to a problem and only got 3/15, but that was my only complaint. Also make sure to look over your test in her office hours. Two of my friends argued for 10 extra points that way. I recommend taking Kucherenko if her class fits in your schedule but I wouldn't go out of my way unless you don't have any other decent options.
Normally, my philosophy is that math is math. I learn from the book and exercises. However, the lectures I did attend were about as interesting as a math lecture can be. I'm sure all the professors here know their math, so the only separating factors are lecturing and grading. Kucherenko puts a lot of personality into her lectures and I thought her accent was more entertaining than it was confusing. As far as grading, homework is due once a week and worth 10-20% I don't remember exactly. There are no quizzes, two midterms and the final. The tests will be slightly more complicated than the homework but she gives practice tests if you want to use them. You are not required to attend discussion or lecture, simply to show up and turn in homework every friday. For the tests, she gives partial credit but also takes partial credit away so make sure to show your work. I found the right answer to a problem and only got 3/15, but that was my only complaint. Also make sure to look over your test in her office hours. Two of my friends argued for 10 extra points that way. I recommend taking Kucherenko if her class fits in your schedule but I wouldn't go out of my way unless you don't have any other decent options.
Most Helpful Review
while kucherkenko is a good lecturer and knows what she is talking about, the problems on the midterms/final were nothing like the homework problems. I practiced even the hardest problems that the book offered and still was totally lost on the exams. this is a good class if you plan on going further in math, but if not, i would take a professor that is more straightforward in their testing.
while kucherkenko is a good lecturer and knows what she is talking about, the problems on the midterms/final were nothing like the homework problems. I practiced even the hardest problems that the book offered and still was totally lost on the exams. this is a good class if you plan on going further in math, but if not, i would take a professor that is more straightforward in their testing.
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32B is probably the hardest lower div math class. The class is very abstract in a sense, because it requires you to be able to visualize in 3D in order to do the problems. Integration is also not a very easy concept in calculus, so if you had problems with it in other calculus classes, this class will be hard. Kucherenko does have an accent, but I feel like she did a good job covering the material and trying to explain things the simplest way possible. IN the beginning she would do some proofs and go over the concept, then do examples. Her lectures are very organized. Her midterms were pretty hard, and her final was pretty hard too. She's definitely NOT an easy teacher... but if you practice from the book and review everything before the tests you should be ok. 32B is about twice as hard as 32A, and it does require you to get a solid grasp of the concepts and know what you're doing rather than just blindly doing problems. If you don't know what you're doing and why you're doing it, this class will make you suffer. Final grade in class: A
32B is probably the hardest lower div math class. The class is very abstract in a sense, because it requires you to be able to visualize in 3D in order to do the problems. Integration is also not a very easy concept in calculus, so if you had problems with it in other calculus classes, this class will be hard. Kucherenko does have an accent, but I feel like she did a good job covering the material and trying to explain things the simplest way possible. IN the beginning she would do some proofs and go over the concept, then do examples. Her lectures are very organized. Her midterms were pretty hard, and her final was pretty hard too. She's definitely NOT an easy teacher... but if you practice from the book and review everything before the tests you should be ok. 32B is about twice as hard as 32A, and it does require you to get a solid grasp of the concepts and know what you're doing rather than just blindly doing problems. If you don't know what you're doing and why you're doing it, this class will make you suffer. Final grade in class: A
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had her for a 9 AM lecture so hardly went to class and still managed to do alright... not the easiest teacher that was teaching, but linear algebra is not very hard to begin with. she had a pretty thick accent which also caused me to not attend lecture. try to take it with park if you can.
had her for a 9 AM lecture so hardly went to class and still managed to do alright... not the easiest teacher that was teaching, but linear algebra is not very hard to begin with. she had a pretty thick accent which also caused me to not attend lecture. try to take it with park if you can.
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I'll put it this way: if you liked Park, Norberg, Corbin, and Hainline (astro TA), we'd have similar opinions on who teaches well. Kucherenko is added to the list. Explains everything, well-organized, knows her material, pacing is perfect, homework is manageable, and midterms/final is ... well relative. I had an alright time, scoring B+/A-'s, but I see some people had difficulty; probably because they took 32B here (hint: take it at SMC; they combine 32A&B so you'll dominate the first three weeks). Thankfully, I skipped 33A and went ahead to diff equations, which is no bs, concrete, understandable study. Even if you have five classes, I doubt you'd fall behind in her class, not because her 33B is easy (it was, imo), but because you won't find much reason to procrastinate with this class.
I'll put it this way: if you liked Park, Norberg, Corbin, and Hainline (astro TA), we'd have similar opinions on who teaches well. Kucherenko is added to the list. Explains everything, well-organized, knows her material, pacing is perfect, homework is manageable, and midterms/final is ... well relative. I had an alright time, scoring B+/A-'s, but I see some people had difficulty; probably because they took 32B here (hint: take it at SMC; they combine 32A&B so you'll dominate the first three weeks). Thankfully, I skipped 33A and went ahead to diff equations, which is no bs, concrete, understandable study. Even if you have five classes, I doubt you'd fall behind in her class, not because her 33B is easy (it was, imo), but because you won't find much reason to procrastinate with this class.
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