Tongou Yang
Department of Mathematics
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3.8
Overall Rating
Based on 19 Users
Easiness 3.8 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.6 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.5 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

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GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
44.0%
36.6%
29.3%
22.0%
14.7%
7.3%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
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Reviews (15)

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Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
July 6, 2024

he is so goated omg if you ever have to take 33a take it with him. his lectures made all the material easy to grasp and were often engaging. the homework wasn't bad and did a good job at covering everything from class. i will forever and always be a fan.

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Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
July 4, 2024

Prof. Yang made this class really easy. I had virtually no conceptual understanding of what was going on because I was playing WordHunt/working on other work/scrolling on Instagram every lecture, but I still was able to get a 90 on the final, which was multiple choice. Because he had to cancel the midterm following the attack on the encampment, he made homework worth 65 percent of our grade, and homework was always super doable.

Helpful?

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Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 27, 2024

Dr. Yang is GOAT. His lectures are very clear with LOTS of examples. His exams are not too difficult, and the assignments are managable. Always a good choice taking class with him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 24, 2024

I love Tongou Yang! Great lecturer and lecture notes! During the Palestine protests, I went home for two weeks and missed lectures. Everything is recorded, but his notes were so well written that I did not need to do any other than read them. Everything he tested us on was directly from the notes, even a lot of the T/F questions were just theorems we covered in class. The final was only 5 questions, so messing up part A on one almost screwed me over, but he was very forgiving and gave full credit on the rest of the question for correctly using the answer I chose in part A. My biggest complaint was the lack of participation from the class, but Prof Yang tried his hardest to engage us and ask questions(and it isn't his fault people were not engaging). As far as class homework, we had 8 homeworks that were relatively short(he dropped 2). The midterm is technically optional, and he drops it if you score better on the final.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 18, 2024

Disclaimer: I took this class the quarter of the pro-Palestine protests and TA strike, so my experience in this class may not be reflective of what is normal. We had no midterms and a multiple choice final.

Prof. Yang is one of the better math professors I've had. He is clear and descriptive in his lectures and notes, so you don't need any textbook reading or extra studying to fully learn concepts. His homeworks, which he writes himself, are short and straightforward but very relevant for what we actually need to know. They served as excellent practice. He provided sample midterms and finals that were similar in format, content, and difficulty to the actual exams.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 15, 2024

Great lecturer! Try taking him at any cost. Professor Yang gave us eight homework assignments throughout the quarter and allowed up to two drops which is incredibly generous in my opinion. Homework is essentially an easy A and that in itself is worth 40% of your grade. Our midterm was cancelled unfortunately but it would've been worth 25% of our grade. Instead he was benevolent enough to transfer the weight to the homework so that it was worth 65% of our grade. Apart from the generous grading scheme, Professor Yang is incredibly clear when explaining material and understands whenever the class is stumped. During lecture he gives an adequate balance of conceptual and computational material, where I found that he structures the lessons by first introducing a theorem or definition and then expanding on it by working out concrete examples (about 4 or 5 per lecture) with solutions. He also posts these solutions along with his notes which is great. Also, I like his slight accent since he gives the partial impression of a mid-transatlantic speaker. I found the pace of his teaching to be great since he will slow down whenever he feels the majority of the class does not understand something and will encourage us to ask any questions. Dr. Yang is a great resource during office hours as well and honestly I think he is by far among the best math professors on campus and as other commenters have mentioned, has definitely improved from previous quarters.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
June 12, 2024

As someone who recently took Tongou Yang in Spring 2024, it's safe to say that he has improved tremendously and made a complete 180 turn compared to his Winter 2024 class! The class is very manageable now, with short homeworks that are often related to examples he gives in lectures. His lectures are concise and easy to follow. In addition, he is very caring and understanding too. I want to note that the quarter I took it was a little special due to the fact that Tongou canceled the midterm due to the protests, and made HW 60 percent of the grade! Despite that, his tests (one midterm and a final) are both very manageable. The final was very similar to the practice final he gives, so make sure to study that! Overall, people should definitely take him!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: N/A
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
April 13, 2024

Not a helpful professor and hw takes a while, but like it's doable

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
April 5, 2024

Overall, I think the professor was good. I found that he was very good at explaining the topics and that he is a lenient grader (if you find that a homework was accidentally graded wrong, talk to him and he will give you points back where it is due). However, during lectures, he can get pretty theoretical. He will often prove important conjectures in linear algebra and his proofs can get pretty confusing. I would advise to not worry about these proofs too much and to simply focus on the big picture. My main suggestion to anyone taking the class is to really practice. Don't rely solely on his lectures. Go in the textbook and do the problems in the back.

About the exams, there is a true and false section that is worth a large part of the total score. I feel that this is the hardest part of the exam. While some of these questions are trivial, some of them require a deep conceptual understanding. If you run into a tricky true and false, try to make up your own matrices and see what happens (This has greatly helped on both the midterm and the final).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A-
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
April 3, 2024

This class was rough but somehow I ended with an A-. I attended every lecture even though most of the time I was pretty lost. As an example / step-by-step learner the theoretical nature of this class was not the best for me. I bombed the midterm after relying on the lectures alone, however, I learned for the midterm how to study better. The key to this class for me was the lecture notes provided by the professor. I would suggest going to lecture just to listen and then to take notes later based on the lecture notes in the files. Utilize the practice midterm/final for they were similar to the exams. All in all you're going to be required to self study but this class is definitely doable with some time put in.

Grading scheme:
40% Homework (4x10% each - none dropped)
25% Midterm + 35% final
OR 60% final (dropped midterm)

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A-
July 6, 2024

he is so goated omg if you ever have to take 33a take it with him. his lectures made all the material easy to grasp and were often engaging. the homework wasn't bad and did a good job at covering everything from class. i will forever and always be a fan.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
July 4, 2024

Prof. Yang made this class really easy. I had virtually no conceptual understanding of what was going on because I was playing WordHunt/working on other work/scrolling on Instagram every lecture, but I still was able to get a 90 on the final, which was multiple choice. Because he had to cancel the midterm following the attack on the encampment, he made homework worth 65 percent of our grade, and homework was always super doable.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
June 27, 2024

Dr. Yang is GOAT. His lectures are very clear with LOTS of examples. His exams are not too difficult, and the assignments are managable. Always a good choice taking class with him.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
June 24, 2024

I love Tongou Yang! Great lecturer and lecture notes! During the Palestine protests, I went home for two weeks and missed lectures. Everything is recorded, but his notes were so well written that I did not need to do any other than read them. Everything he tested us on was directly from the notes, even a lot of the T/F questions were just theorems we covered in class. The final was only 5 questions, so messing up part A on one almost screwed me over, but he was very forgiving and gave full credit on the rest of the question for correctly using the answer I chose in part A. My biggest complaint was the lack of participation from the class, but Prof Yang tried his hardest to engage us and ask questions(and it isn't his fault people were not engaging). As far as class homework, we had 8 homeworks that were relatively short(he dropped 2). The midterm is technically optional, and he drops it if you score better on the final.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A+
June 18, 2024

Disclaimer: I took this class the quarter of the pro-Palestine protests and TA strike, so my experience in this class may not be reflective of what is normal. We had no midterms and a multiple choice final.

Prof. Yang is one of the better math professors I've had. He is clear and descriptive in his lectures and notes, so you don't need any textbook reading or extra studying to fully learn concepts. His homeworks, which he writes himself, are short and straightforward but very relevant for what we actually need to know. They served as excellent practice. He provided sample midterms and finals that were similar in format, content, and difficulty to the actual exams.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: N/A
June 15, 2024

Great lecturer! Try taking him at any cost. Professor Yang gave us eight homework assignments throughout the quarter and allowed up to two drops which is incredibly generous in my opinion. Homework is essentially an easy A and that in itself is worth 40% of your grade. Our midterm was cancelled unfortunately but it would've been worth 25% of our grade. Instead he was benevolent enough to transfer the weight to the homework so that it was worth 65% of our grade. Apart from the generous grading scheme, Professor Yang is incredibly clear when explaining material and understands whenever the class is stumped. During lecture he gives an adequate balance of conceptual and computational material, where I found that he structures the lessons by first introducing a theorem or definition and then expanding on it by working out concrete examples (about 4 or 5 per lecture) with solutions. He also posts these solutions along with his notes which is great. Also, I like his slight accent since he gives the partial impression of a mid-transatlantic speaker. I found the pace of his teaching to be great since he will slow down whenever he feels the majority of the class does not understand something and will encourage us to ask any questions. Dr. Yang is a great resource during office hours as well and honestly I think he is by far among the best math professors on campus and as other commenters have mentioned, has definitely improved from previous quarters.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Spring 2024
Grade: A
June 12, 2024

As someone who recently took Tongou Yang in Spring 2024, it's safe to say that he has improved tremendously and made a complete 180 turn compared to his Winter 2024 class! The class is very manageable now, with short homeworks that are often related to examples he gives in lectures. His lectures are concise and easy to follow. In addition, he is very caring and understanding too. I want to note that the quarter I took it was a little special due to the fact that Tongou canceled the midterm due to the protests, and made HW 60 percent of the grade! Despite that, his tests (one midterm and a final) are both very manageable. The final was very similar to the practice final he gives, so make sure to study that! Overall, people should definitely take him!

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: N/A
April 13, 2024

Not a helpful professor and hw takes a while, but like it's doable

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A+
April 5, 2024

Overall, I think the professor was good. I found that he was very good at explaining the topics and that he is a lenient grader (if you find that a homework was accidentally graded wrong, talk to him and he will give you points back where it is due). However, during lectures, he can get pretty theoretical. He will often prove important conjectures in linear algebra and his proofs can get pretty confusing. I would advise to not worry about these proofs too much and to simply focus on the big picture. My main suggestion to anyone taking the class is to really practice. Don't rely solely on his lectures. Go in the textbook and do the problems in the back.

About the exams, there is a true and false section that is worth a large part of the total score. I feel that this is the hardest part of the exam. While some of these questions are trivial, some of them require a deep conceptual understanding. If you run into a tricky true and false, try to make up your own matrices and see what happens (This has greatly helped on both the midterm and the final).

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Verified Reviewer This user is a verified UCLA student/alum.
Quarter: Winter 2024
Grade: A-
April 3, 2024

This class was rough but somehow I ended with an A-. I attended every lecture even though most of the time I was pretty lost. As an example / step-by-step learner the theoretical nature of this class was not the best for me. I bombed the midterm after relying on the lectures alone, however, I learned for the midterm how to study better. The key to this class for me was the lecture notes provided by the professor. I would suggest going to lecture just to listen and then to take notes later based on the lecture notes in the files. Utilize the practice midterm/final for they were similar to the exams. All in all you're going to be required to self study but this class is definitely doable with some time put in.

Grading scheme:
40% Homework (4x10% each - none dropped)
25% Midterm + 35% final
OR 60% final (dropped midterm)

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 2
3.8
Overall Rating
Based on 19 Users
Easiness 3.8 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 3.6 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 4.5 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 3.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

There are no relevant tags for this professor yet.

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